Dutch startup Lightyear on Tuesday announced a roughly $80 million investment the firm said will help spur development of a mass-market solar-assisted electric car. Lightyear in June revealed that in production form its Lightyear One will be instead called Lightyear 0. That model already incorporates game-changing aero and specially developed... Solar car maker: “High-volume” Lightyear 2, international expansion spurred with new investment
Dutch startup Lightyear on Tuesday announced a roughly $80 million investment the firm said will help spur development of a mass-market solar-assisted electric car. Lightyear in June revealed that in production form its Lightyear One will be instead called Lightyear 0. That model already incorporates game-changing aero and specially developed... 
Germany’s Sono Motors confirmed on Thursday that it has 20,000 direct consumer reservations for its upcoming Sion solar-supplemented EV that, if you don't drive much, might seldom if ever cost you anything to "fuel." Sono says that the Sion, which is due to be produced by Valmet Automotive in Finland starting in the second half of 2023, has... 
Lightyear will borrow tech from Swedish supercar builder Koenigsegg for its upcoming mass-market solar-assisted EV. Koenigsegg is also investing in Lightyear, the two companies confirmed in a press release. The startup unveiled its first production car, the Lightyear 0, in June with a price tag equivalent to roughly $260,000 and an initial run of... 
Sono Motors on Monday revealed what it claims is a production-ready version of its Sion solar-assisted EV. Production is scheduled to start in the second half of 2023. The production version gets revised exterior and interior styling, Sono said in a press release. The headlights, taillights, door handles, charge port, and rear fascia are new... 
Toyota on Thursday unveiled a home battery energy storage system similar in concept to Tesla's Powerwall. The automaker has started pre-orders for its O-Uchi Kyuden System in Japan, with sales expected to begin in August through home builders and general construction companies, a Toyota press release said. The system has a storage capacity of 8.7... 
A team of Dutch university students has radically redesigned the RV with solar power and an aerodynamic shape. As detailed recently on "Fully Charged Show," The Stella Vita is an electric RV with fold-out solar panels designed by Solar Team Eindhoven, a team of engineering students at the Eindhoven University of Technology. In 2021, the team took... 
Munich-based startup Sono Motors on Tuesday announced a change in manufacturing plans for its solar-supplemented Sion electric car. The startup announced in a press release that it was switching contract manufacturing partners to Valmet Automotive, which will build the Sion at its factory in Uusikaupunki, Finland. The start of production is... 
Sono Motors on Monday announced that it had taken another step toward getting its Sion electric hatchback into production on schedule. In a press release, Sono said it had started the series-validation phase of development. The company said it's currently building a fleet of 37 series-validation vehicles and bodies-in-white, which represent the... 
The Lightyear One solar-supplemented electric car hasn't started production, but its Dutch maker is already planning a second, more-affordable model. In a keynote presentation earlier this month, Lightyear confirmed plans to launch a second EV, appropriately dubbed Lightyear Two, in late 2024 or early 2025. The Lightyear Two will have a smaller... 
Hyundai recently unveiled a coordinated home-energy ecosystem, bundling EV charging, solar, and home energy storage. Dubbed Hyundai Home, the service will provide one-stop shopping for these products to Hyundai customers, the automaker said in a press release. It's scheduled to launch in certain markets in 2022. Rather than leaving customers to... 
While not quite ready for production, the Aptera electric three-wheeler recently appeared on "Jay Leno's Garage," where Jay Leno got a comprehensive preview of the solar-supplemented EV from Aptera co-CEOs Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro. The vehicle seen here is an evolution and revival of what Aptera hoped to build under the company's original... 
Munich-based Sono Motors, which is working to bring its solar-supplemented Sion electric car to market for Europe, revealed last week that it is developing its own AC wallbox that will allow the car to be used as a mobile power bank or external home energy storage. While most other such units use the DC fast-charging connector, the Sion unit will... 
Electric cars and home solar complement each other, and a new alliance between solar-energy provider SunPower and charging-equipment maker Wallbox aims to make the most of that. With this alliance, SunPower customers can opt to install a Wallbox home charging station at the same time as their home solar and/or energy-storage system installation... 
The Lightyear One solar-supplemented EV was driven 440 miles on a test track on a single charge of a 60-kilowatt-hour battery pack, Lightyear claims. The test was conducted using a "validation prototype" at the Aldenhoven Testing Center in Germany, last month, Lightyear said in a press release. While a closed course is very different from... 
The Sono Sion solar-supplemented electric car still hasn't started production, but on Thursday Sono Motors announced a larger battery pack for the vehicle, claiming longer range, more charging power, and a longer lifespan. The new 54-kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate (LFP) pack replaces a 35-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion pack in the Sion. In a... 
Aptera Motors’ says that most drivers will never need to charge its three-wheeled, solar-powered car—offering a driving range of up to 1,000 miles—and that it will be “the most efficient vehicle ever made available to consumers.” While those astounding efficiency and range figures often take top billing—for good... 
Startup Sono Motors plans to unveil a prototype of its Sion solar-assisted electric car at the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show, leaving it with relatively little time for a previously-discussed start of production in early 2022. While Sono has shown photos of the car—which has been enough to garner 12,600 reservations, according to the... 
Aptera Motors now claims its updated electric three-wheeler will be able to run entirely on solar power, with no charging required for daily use. "Our built-in solar array keeps your battery pack topped off and anywhere you want to go, you just go," Aptera co-founder Chris Anthony said in a statement. Specifically, Aptera claims its solar... 
The city of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, has unveiled what it calls the first solar roadway within a city in the United States. Located in the Atlanta metropolitan area, Peachtree Corners installed solar panels in a section of its Technology Parkway, which also functions as an autonomous-vehicle testing lane, according to a press release from the...