The Dutch solar car company Lightyear has entered into a development cooperation with the Swedish manufacturer Koenigsegg. The technologies of the company, known for its extremely powerful sports cars, are to be incorporated into the mass-market model Lightyear 2.
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The Munich-based solar car developer Sono Motors has presented the series design of its Sion solar electric car. This only concerns the design of the body and the interior – nothing has changed in the specifications for the technology. Production is scheduled to start in the second half of 2023.
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In China, 42 companies and three universities have developed an electric car that runs exclusively on solar energy. The small electric car has 8.1 square metres of solar panels that can generate up to 7.6 kWh of electricity on a sunny day. A range of 74.8 kilometres was reportedly tested.
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Sono Motors says it is working on a bidirectional AC wall box and is currently running a survey for customers to vote for their favourite design. The German company expects the home charger launch to coincide with Sono Motors’ Sion solar car coming to market in 2023.
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Markus Volmer will be the new Head of Complete Vehicle Development at Sono Motors. He succeeds Roberto Diesel, who left the Munich-based company back in April 2020. The new CTO is now responsible for the testing and validation of the Sion solar electric car on its way to series production.
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The ‘electric car that charges itself’ thus was the slogan Lightyear entered the EV stage with in 2017. The spin-off from the TU Eindhoven’s solar team has been working on their solar EV ever since and has now found a partner in LeasePlan that will help bring the ‘Pioneer Edition’ to consumers by 2020.
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The Munich startup Sono Motors has passed the 5,000 pre-order mark for their solar EV, less than a year after its presentation, and with more than a year before production begin.
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Students at the Prove Lab of the California Polytechnic State University presented a prototype of a solar electric car that has no battery. Still it can reach 105 kph as it is super light and boasts 605 solar cells arranged to break records.
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“Entschuldigung” means sorry in German and after yet another scandal has cast the practices of Germany’s car industry in a stark light, it is a startup apologising for stuff they did not do.
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Smart Urban Vehicle: ZF TRW presents a compact electric car that combines technology of both recently merged companies. The Smart Urban Vehicle has a 6.5 metre turning circle and parks automatically even without a driver. Two electric motors (40 kW) sit on the rear axle and are powered by a traction battery. Top speed is 150 kph.
springerprofessional.de (in German), automotiveworld.com (paid content)
Wind-to-hydrogen plant: The world’s biggest PEM installation now stands in German Mainz. The 6 MW electrolysis facility could power 2,000 fuel cell cars, storing excess energy from wind in hydrogen. The 17-million euro project was undertaken by Siemens, Stadtwerke Mainz, Linde, and the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences.
puregreencars.com, greencarcongress.com
1,000-kilometre range is reached by the new solar car from Eindhoven University of Technology. The Stella Lux precedes the 2013 Stella and doubles previous range. Built by students, the EV seats four and generates more electricity than it uses.
electricautosport.com
New cathode material: Japanese researchers from i.e. the R&D Center at GS Yuasa are looking at trilithium niobate materials as electrode materials for lithium batteries. About 300 mAh⋅g−1 of high-reversible capacity at 50°C was observed, which partly comes from charge compensation by solid-state redox of oxide ions.
greencarcongress.com