Like Pokemon and Pegasus, the idea of a solar car is as dreamy as it is perfect. Who wouldn’t want a car powered by solar energy? Who wouldn’t want to ditch the lines and bills at the gas station? The car can travel 450 miles on a single charge, and the solar panels cover the 5 square meter roof, giving it a range of 12 kilometers per hour. This car has four electric motors! This car… sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?
Lightyear claims that production of the first-generation Lightyear 0 will begin in December 2022 for the European market, though the video of the “production line” looks more like someone’s garage than a factory floor. Dess’ factory will eventually go into volume production.)
Now, at CES 2023, the company has unveiled its next-generation Lightyear 2. Lightyear CEO and co-founder Alexandre Hoefsloot said: “Everything we learned from Lightyear 0 – and a lot – we are applying it to Lightyear 2.” It will take a while for new cars, let alone solar powered ones. “It’s still two and a half years away from being in production … you know cars. It’s a long time to polish,” he said.
Like the 0, the Lightyear 2 harnesses the power of the sun through solar panels on the hood, roof and trunk. They’re hybrids, which means they don’t rely entirely on sunlight for power; the point is simply to reduce reliance on a strained electrical grid. In fact, they’re also turning things around by supplying clean energy to the grid, the company claims.
“In a proper solar car, our definition is that at least half of all the energy you need for a year has to come from the sun,” Hoefsloot told me. “Even in the Netherlands. It’s the cloudiest country in the world, so we think that’s a good definition.” It’s a clever definition, and it accounts for seasonality: there will be less sunshine in winter than in summer, but it doesn’t It means that the solar car will be sealed for half a year. You’ll only pay more in the winter.
The interior is surprisingly stripped-down: There’s a big LCD panel, just like a Tesla Model 3. But there’s no instrument cluster, and there’s very little else at your fingertips besides the steering wheel. Instead of a speedometer, there’s a pop-up storage compartment. Between the steering wheel and the windshield is a small display that shows speed and range and any other info you need.
