Lightyear secured roughly $11 million (10M Euros) of funding
The funding will assist the restructured enterprise promote photo voltaic {hardware}
Lightyear’s moved on from trying to construct its personal EVs
Lightyear has secured 10 million euros (roughly $11 million at present alternate charges) to fund a brand new enterprise of promoting photo voltaic {hardware} for different firms’ automobiles, resembling photo voltaic panels for car rooftops.
“We’ll use this chance to develop our crew of consultants and technicians to develop into the main provider of on-board photo voltaic programs for automobiles,” Bonna Newman, who was appointed CEO of Lightyear earlier this 12 months, stated in an announcement.
The Netherlands-based firm beforehand targeted on designing EVs that relied closely on built-in photo voltaic panels, permitting for longer intervals between charging periods. The corporate’s Lightyear 0 had a standard battery pack and onboard charger, however the photo voltaic panels meant house owners won’t have to cost for months, Lightyear claimed.
Lightyear 0 manufacturing at Valmet Automotive in Finland
This expertise—and Lightyear itself—originated with the World Photo voltaic Problem and Photo voltaic Group Eindhoven. That crew’s automobiles, together with the Stella Vie that predicted the type of the Lightyear 0, received championship titles.
The Lightyear 0 entered manufacturing in late 2022, with Lightyear claiming on the time to be the primary to convey a photo voltaic automobile to market. The corporate additionally claimed the 0 had probably the most environment friendly powertrain and probably the most aerodynamic physique of any automobile in manufacturing on the time.
Nevertheless, the Lightyear 0 was an costly, area of interest mannequin. The automobile was to be constructed by contract producer Valmet in Finland, initially at a charge of only one automobile per week. Valmet had been as a consequence of produce a 150-unit whole, though just a few preliminary automobiles had been constructed. The worth was set at roughly $170,000.
Waitlist introduced for Lightyear 2 photo voltaic automobile due in 2025.
Lightyear nixed the 0 with a purpose to pivot to the $40,000 Lightyear 2. The corporate introduced plans for this follow-up mannequin in 2021, and opened a waitlist in January 2023 in anticipation of beginning manufacturing on the finish of 2025. However the firm was experiencing monetary hassle because it made that announcement and by no means confirmed the place the two can be manufactured.
A pivot from promoting automobiles to promoting photo voltaic {hardware} to be used on different firms’ automobiles matches the trail of one other solar-EV startup. Sono Motors had additionally contracted with Valmet to fabricate its solar-assisted Sion hatchback, however terminated the undertaking earlier than manufacturing even began to deal with photo voltaic kits for industrial automobiles.