Because of Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, and, now, legacy automakers, EVs are all the craze, however solar-powered fashions are struggling.
In December 2022 the Lightyear 0 went into manufacturing, however simply over a month later the manufacturing facility line has been paused, and Lightyear is bankrupt and in administration.
Late final week the Dutch automaker stopped funds to its subsidiary Atlas Applied sciences, which is chargeable for growing and producing its solar-powered electrical automobiles. Atlas is now within the arms of an administrator or curator.
In an announcement the corporate mentioned: “Within the coming interval the curator will give attention to the place of the staff and collectors in addition to assessing how the Lightyear idea may be continued.”
This all occurred simply days after after Lightyear introduced it was stopping manufacturing of the Lightyear 0 to give attention to growing a smaller, extra inexpensive car, often known as the Lightyear 2.
The Lightyear 0 was inbuilt Finland by contract producer Valmet. Launched in the course of 2022, the Lightyear 0 was a big 5m-long EV with round 5 sq. metres of photo voltaic panels positioned on the roof and bonnet.
In sunny Mediterranean nations, the Lightyear 0’s panels might hoover up photo voltaic power to offer 70km of vary per day. Additional north in cloudier nations, such because the Netherlands, this quantity fell to round 20km.
Like an everyday EV, the Lightyear 0 may be plugged into the grid to recharge. It got here fitted with a 60kWh battery, and had a WLTP driving vary of 625km.
Whereas different EV producers have coupled their planet-saving wishes to tyre-shredding efficiency, Lightyear prioritised effectivity.
Its lengthy tapered physique, partially-covered rear wheel arches, skinny tyres, and flat underbody all contributed to a coefficient of drag of simply 0.19, decrease than the 0.20 registered by essentially the most environment friendly variations of the Mercedes-Benz EQS.
Though it had an electrical motor for every wheel, efficiency was leisurely with a 0-100km/h time of round 10 seconds.
With a beginning value of €250,000 ($383,000) earlier than gross sales tax, it’s probably Lightyear struggled to generate sufficient orders to satisfy its manufacturing cap of 946 models per 12 months.
Given the corporate has simply entered administration, it’s unclear if there’s a path ahead for the corporate to develop the Lightyear 2, a smaller, extra inexpensive mannequin to be priced round €30,000 ($46,000).
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