A suspension of payments has been applied for today for the BV that was responsible as an operating company for the production of the Lightyear 0, the company from Helmond said. The Lightyear 0 was the first production solar car in the world in November, but the car was very expensive: 250,000 euros.
The decision to stop production of the Lightyear 0 was difficult, according to the company, but was necessary to ‘secure the company’s vision’. “The whole process of developing Lightyear 0 has provided our company with many valuable lessons. We are now putting all of our energy into building Lightyear 2 to make it available to customers on time,” says Lightyear CEO and co-founder Lex Hoefslot.
‘Less than 40,000 euros’
Lightyear has recently been developing the ‘affordable’ Lightyear 2, which should cost less than 40,000 euros.
At the major tech fair CES in Las Vegas, the Helmond-based company already gave a preview of the car, which should start production at the end of 2025. Meanwhile, 40,000 consumers have signed up for the waiting list for the Lightyear 2.
Thanks to the solar cells on the roof, the car needs to be charged much less often. The range of the Lightyear 2 will be over 800 kilometers.
Investments and leasing companies
“We hope to complete a number of important investments in the coming weeks to scale up to Lightyear 2, an affordable solar-powered electric car that will be available to a wider audience,” says Hoefsloot.
For the Lightyear 2, 21,000 orders have already been received from leasing companies and car-sharing companies, together representing a turnover of around 840 million euros. In total, Lightyear has raised more than 185 million euros in investments since its foundation in 2016.
German competitor in financial distress
A German competitor of Lightyear, Sono Motors, is now struggling to raise enough money for the development of its first solar car: the Sion should cost just under 30,000 euros. Sono Motors says it needs almost 105 million euros, but has now only received a small 46 million.
