It is no minor effort to use solar cells to power an electric automobile. The quantity of solar energy that the best cells can gather and what is required to propel a two-ton vehicle at high speeds is vastly different. However, Lightyear appears to be further ahead than other organizations pursuing comparable concepts. There’s a specification document! And a production schedule! Valmet Automotive, a Finnish contract manufacturer, is even a manufacturing partner for the corporation. These are hardly insignificant achievements.
However, there is still a long way to go, and there is no assurance Lightyear will cross the finish line. The landscape is littered with the remains of EV businesses that had lofty goals for the future but succumbed to the hard reality of vehicle manufacture. In essence, building automobiles is extremely difficult, and Lightyear is not alone in its quest of a breakthrough new form factor.
Lightyear isn’t the only startup looking to the sun for ideas. Aptera, a California startup that went bankrupt in the aftermath of the Great Recession, was recently resurrected and is still in operation. Sono Motors, a German firm, is also developing a solar-powered electric vehicle. Mercedes-Vision Benz’s EQXX concept features a 117-cell solar roof array. Toyota has also announced a solar roof option for its recently released BZ4X electrified SUV.
The firm was created in 2016 by a group of engineers who had previously competed in the World Solar Challenge, a race held every few years in the Australian outback to push the concept of solar-powered cars.
