[Livnletcarsliv]

I don't see this any different than a typical solar-powered house.
And the cost of 250K will obviously put this in Chiron's league of EV's.

In India (where solar power is an unlimited environment friendly abundance), if the cost of domestic solar set-up for a small house is unaffordable even after so many years of introduction and availability, then this car doesnt make sense at all.

The need of the hour is a significant reduction on fossil-fuel based power generation (especially for a country like India). There is nothing significant about this car that I see will change the world. Eg - The solar-powered charging feature of this car can only be used in tropical countries/equatorial countries all year. What will happen during winter, rainy, autumn seasons when sunlight is sparse ?

[vinya_jag]

Cost aside, I feel, they are doing all the right things:
Making the car more aerodynamic, with unconventional mirrors (cameras), hiding the wheels, reducing the space between the wheel and the wheel arches, sculpting the underside, and yet, they have managed stunning looks. This reminded me of the Knight Rider, if it came in all black.
Adding a additional solar charger, is also a step in the right direction I feel. Kers + Solar chargers will surely add to the range.

And yes, all this research means, an expensive car. I just hope folks pick the idea and bring them into mass production soon.

This is still half the story. All that Aero will be of no use in traffic, the next step is to make the cars lighter, less contact patch with the road, and maybe even smaller.

[arjab]

The 2013 Volkswagen XL1 had a drag co-efficient of 0.159
It was a diesel - electric hybrid capable of achieving phenomenal levels of efficiency.

[carthick1000]

Unfortunately, Lightyear 0 is not going to see the light of the day.

According to the carmaker-to-be, the focus will now be shifted to their affordable model Lightyear 2.

In order to safeguard our vision, we had to decide to redirect our focus and resources completely towards Lightyear 2. This means in effect that we had to suspend the production of Lightyear 0.

This decision was not taken lightly as it impacts all who embarked on this journey with us. Those are of course our own employees, who work day in day out to make solar mobility a reality, alongside our investors, clients, suppliers and the government.

This morning we therefore submitted the request to the court to open suspension of payment proceedings in relation to Atlas Technologies B.V., our operating company responsible for the production of Lightyear 0. This is a subsidiary of Atlas Technologies Holding B.V. Atlas Technologies Holding B.V., which holds the IP rights, and Lightyear Layer B.V. are not in scope of the suspension of payments proceedings of Atlas Technologies B.V.

CEO and Co-Founder Lex Hoefsloot: ‘Unfortunately we had to make this decision. The whole process of developing Lightyear 0 has provided our company many valuable learnings over the past years. We are now redirecting all our energy towards building Lightyear 2 in order to make it available to clients on schedule.’

Hoefsloot: ‘Recently, we launched a waitlist for Lightyear 2 resulting in more than 40,000 subscriptions of individual customers and we already had approximately 20,000 pre-orders from fleet owners. We hope to conclude some key investments in the coming weeks in order to scale up to Lightyear 2, an affordable solar electric vehicle available for a wider audience.’

Source

[StarrySky]

This is interesting. The production of the Lighyear 0 was inaugurated with more than 100 invited guests and media presence only about 2 months back.

Link:
Valmet Automotive starts series production of the solar electric Lightyear 0

Did they run into issues with the production, or was the celebrated start aimed at investors?

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Did they run into issues with the production, or was the celebrated start aimed at investors?

TL;DR version: Financial problems. The production stop prevents the carmaking part of the company from going bankrupt. Note it is a different company.

The Dutch companies and investors all have some special skils and smart lawyers to setup companies very uniquely to manuever the Dutch laws (which themselves give a good leeway. No wonder Ferrari, Stellants all are registered in NL )

In this case, the company responsible for manufacturing is Valmet automotive of Finland, which is contracted by Atlas technologies B.V. (This and Lightyear Layer are 2 companies held by Altas holdings B.V.). Now Lightyear has seeked court for suspending payments to Atlas technologies B.V. which means no money to produce Lightyear 0. The company CEO says this is to prevent bankruptcy of the manufacturing part (Atlas technologies B.V.). Still no clear way forward.

Though the company achieved some good milestones when it comes to efficiency, I was very skeptic about Lightyear 0, given its exorbitant pricing. This project was mostly boosted/patronized by local investors and with this news, my suspicion is some big investor pulled the plug. So Lightyear 2 is even more skeptical to say the least.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by carthick1000

Though the company achieved some good milestones when it comes to efficiency, I was very skeptic about Lightyear 0, given its exorbitant pricing. This project was mostly boosted/patronized by local investors and with this news, my suspicion is some big investor pulled the plug. So Lightyear 2 is even more skeptical to say the least.

I agree. Although Lightyear claims to have orders from some lease companies already. I have seen the number of 10000 units floating around. The major difference between the first (now stopped) and the second model is of course the price tag. They are aiming at around Euro 40K which puts it in the price bracket of a decent family car.

We will wait and see.

Jeroen

[qaqa]

I don't understand this concept at all. Why put a generator on the car and lug it around ? Why not simply put panels on your house roof and power your EV with that? It would be much more efficient, vastly cheaper and leave room for the car to be optimised for driving rather than being a solar panel array. You still get the same good karma anyway !

[oli.ferns]

Originally Posted by Everlearner

Thanks for sharing. I was always wondering why companies are not exploring the option of solar panels on the roof of vehicles. This should extend the range of EVs significantly on sunny days.

there is this car as well within 5 lacs. The solar panel would add about 10kms only though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG0l...nel=FaisalKhan

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by carthick1000

In this case, the company responsible for manufacturing is Valmet automotive of Finland, which is contracted by Atlas technologies B.V. (This and Lightyear Layer are 2 companies held by Altas holdings B.V.). Now Lightyear has seeked court for suspending payments to Atlas technologies B.V. which means no money to produce Lightyear 0. The company CEO says this is to prevent bankruptcy of the manufacturing part (Atlas technologies B.V.). Still no clear way forward.

New developments today:

The manufacturing part of the company (Atlas technologies B.V.) is now declared bankrupt by a local court. The intellectual property of Lightyear are still held by the Holding company (Atlas holdings B.V.) which includes some big investors like Dutch Government funds and Koenigsegg.

source

This is getting bitter day-by-day. Lets see how those who placed fleet orders for the upcoming model (Lightyear 2) react.