start Dutch car company Lightyear said recently it officially put the solar-powered vehicle, Lightyear 0, into production. It’s a first for a powered car by direct sunlight.
Despite the fact that 0 looks quite like a traditional electric sedan, the cost for about 150 people who pre-ordered the car was $259,000. It’s certainly not cheap, but if it’s a car that can actually run on the power of the sun I suppose you can pay for early adopters.
The company says it plans to build a total of about a thousand zeros at a factory in Finland. Production will start slowly – just one car per week. That number will grow to about five units per week by the second half of 2023.
The car will apparently be able to drive for two months without charging in Amsterdam during the summer. Not bad. However, you will be really lucky if you live in Portugal. Lightyear CEO and co-founder, Lex Hoefsloot, says Bloomberg that buyers in that country will be able to use up to seven months between charges.
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The car’s curved solar panels on its hood and roof suck in enough sun juice to add as much as 43 miles of range each day. If you live somewhere that never sees sun (the U.K.) you probably shouldn’t expect results like this. That being said, fully charged, the 0 is expected to have up to a 388-mile range.
Alas, it does not look like the 0 and its 0.19 drag coefficient will make its way to our shores.
If that high price is keeping you away from the 0, don’t worry. Lightyear is reportedly also developing the Lightyear 2. It’ll be a higher-volume car with a starting price of around $31,500. That vehicle is expected to go into production by 2025.
