The world's first production-ready solar car, Lightyear Zero, will soon be delivered to customers by the end of this year. Designed and engineered by a Dutch company of the same name, the vehicle will be equipped with a 60-kilowatt-hour battery pack.
Lightyear is a Netherlands-based EV start-up that specializes in solar electric vehicles (SEVs). After 6 months of rigorous work on developing the solar panel technology for the car, the company has finally decided to begin the pre-order services.
The start-up announced that it is planning to make at least 949 of the models which will feature curved solar panels across the hood and roof of the car. These panels will further assist in providing an additional range of 70 km per day and 11,000 km per year.
The vehicle boasts of hitting 0-100 kmph in no less than 10 seconds and has a top speed of 160 kmph, HT Auto reported.
The 60kWh battery is designed to deliver a single-charge range of nearly 700 km. As per officials of the EV start-up, the vehicle will be manufactured by Valmet Automotive in Finland.
"Electric cars are a step in the right direction, but they are dependent on the grid, which is still dependent on mostly fossil fuel energy," Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Lex Hoefsloot said revealing the starting price of 250,000-euro ($263,000) at a recent showcase event.
He mentioned further that by the addition of a new powerful source like the sun, there is 'certainty' that the customer will not have to charge the vehicle very often, as per Bloomberg.
This is a huge accomplishment for Lightyear, as many vehicles proposed by well-known companies in the past have struggled to even get through the prototype stage due to the large solar panel requirement.
After the production run of Lightyear Zero is complete, the company has plans to come up with a more affordable model at a starting price of 30,000 euros, who production might start late 2024 or early 2025.
