Lightyear unveils the first long-range solar car on June 25

https://lightyear.one/lightyear-unveils-the-first-long-range-solar-car-on-june-25/

by SanderMak • 7 years ago

37 58 7 years ago

kuu• 7 years ago

This seems a little contradiction, I don't understand it:

The 4-wheel drive car is designed to go for long periods without cable charging. The battery alone has a range of 600-800 kilometers, depending on the usage. When it does need to be charged, the model’s energy efficiency makes it charge two or three times faster than any other electric car on the market. This means drivers can charge up to 400km overnight with an ordinary power socket

"without cable charging" but "can charge up to 400km with an ordinary power socket" :\

taneq2• 7 years ago

From your own quote:

The 4-wheel drive car is designed to go for long periods without cable charging.

It can do both.

vageli• 7 years ago

This seems a little contradiction, I don't understand it:
The 4-wheel drive car is designed to go for long periods without cable charging.

It is the long periods that are without cable charging, not that cable charging is not needed to drive long periods.

King-Aaron3• 7 years ago

I'm honestly surprised Tesla etc aren't already doing this. I also feel that what we've seen with Tesla's struggles to bring cars to market, Lightyear would be better off partnering with an existing company rather than trying to launch their own vehicle.

clouddrover• 7 years ago

Another solar car, still a couple of years away from production: https://sonomotors.com/en/sion/

An interview and demo of the Sono Sion on Fully Charged: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLZKdkgB85k

Fully Charged also has an interview and a ride along in the Lightyear One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSbWwn_YCr8

LoSboccacc• 7 years ago

250km on a 35kWh battery
up to 34 kilometers of additional range per day

4.75kwh from solar panel in 8 hours

600 watt solar panel average power

4m^2 solar panels give or take

back of the envelope calculation checks out, this would be a great commuter car.

King-Aaron3• 7 years ago

All I care about from that first link is the moss in the dashboard. That's incredibly cool.

whamlastxmas• 7 years ago

This car is $150k. I think the benefit is negligible, especially for the cost. Tesla is right to focus on lower prices and wide appeal.

taneq2• 7 years ago

So it's the kind of car you buy for your private island where you want a vehicle that can sit around indefinitely with occasional use and not require any maintenance, and where cost is no object.

manigandham2• 7 years ago

Hasn't the math already been done? There's just not enough sunlight exposure to get anywhere near the power requirements for a mid-sized vehicle.

You end up with tiny boxes on wheels covered in very expensive and fragile panels that only work in perfectly bright and sunny days. Impacts, accidents, maintenance, and manufacturing externalities are all against this approach.

walrus014• 7 years ago

Yes, and even if you were to cover something with the surface area of a Tesla model S in triple junction GaAs pv cells, and park it in direct sun all day, you might collect a cumulative 25kWh of charge in a whole month. Basically the same as 25% of a single charge of the car.

If you want to have a pv powered electric car, install twenty 370W panels (72 x 156mm high efficiency monocrystallin silicon each) on your roof and feed the local grid utility.

Solar powered cars such as you see racing across Australia are special ultra lightweight research projects, stripped down to the bare minimum, and with motors/gearing that results in a time of something like 30 seconds for 0 to 100km/h.

If you want to do the rough math on an absolute perfect case for kWh per month, go to the NREL pvwatts tool online, plug in the numbers for a theoretical 1000W pv array (same as 4 x 250W panels) at your location. Look at the cumulative kWh production estimate per month. This would assume that the car spends 100% of its time outdoors in the sunlight.

Retric2• 7 years ago

That math is very wrong. A model 3 sized car is ~2m x 5m and has room for side panels. At 20% efficiency that’s ~2kw in direct sunlight. Ignore panel cost and 40+% efficiency is possible for ~4kW in sunlight. Now at highway speeds that only adds up to edit: ~8 to 17% increased range which is hardly worth the expense.

Exactly, how much of a car you can cover in panels and how much time it sits in shade or garage makes this less appealing. But, getting ~50 miles of useful range per day at reasonable cost in ideal conditions is very possible.

tonyedgecombe2• 7 years ago

There's just not enough sunlight exposure to get anywhere near the power requirements for a mid-sized vehicle

Using that logic we shouldn't build a single power station because it doesn't cover the power requirements of the whole country.

dx7tnt• 7 years ago

You can't use that logic, because the two aren't even equivalent.

manigandham2• 7 years ago

Scale brings efficiencies, and this is especially evident in power generation. A basic solar roof installation delivers far more power with more reliability. Also everything has trade-offs and the massively increased costs, manufacturing effort and maintenance requirements are certainly not worth it compared to current electric vehicles.

Are you really going to pay $200k for this vehicle with low performance and amenities, high repair costs, and no guarantee that it can ever really power itself - only for the potential to save a few hundred in electricity costs?

jimbob365• 7 years ago

I can imagine solar panels being helpful if your car is parked in the sun during the day, allowing you to commute using the charge from that, but I struggle to see how this would help maximise the range. Wouldn't the 12km/h charging be inconsequential to a long car journey?

consp• 7 years ago

Yes, but this is probably meant for daily commute in which case (in the Netherlands at least, where this company is based) the commute usually is about 30-40km which makes it doable.

If you look at it: if they can deliver about 3-4kW of power (quite high, I guess they wont get there any time soon) you can manage to do all the things a normal car (gas) would do with the accessory belt (usually about 6hp max). So power the AC/Stereo/screens/windows/lights etc. It's not a lot but you get some extra miles from your charge which is always nice.

8draco8• 7 years ago

It depends on the situation. If the car will be parked outside then charging 12km/h is very nice. During 8h at work that's 96km charged, that's enough for a daily commute and some shopping.

close04• 7 years ago

I would see the value for something in keeping the A/C going at a reasonable power without tapping the battery when you have to leave the car out in the sun. Also if you commute and can get a "free" recharge every sunny day.

Assuming you take a long trip where you average 80Km/h you still get over 100Km of extra range which is not bad.

andygates• 7 years ago

My (UK) commute is 10 miles each way, so 3 hours of daylight would keep it topped up. And I have to park outside. It would be _perfect_ for my use case.

If their numbers add up this could be a game-changer.

vbuwivbiu• 7 years ago

Wouldn't it be more efficient to charge cars from electricity gathered from solar urban roofs ? Car parks would make ideal areas to cover with solar roofs in the style of gas-station roofs. They'd be generating electricity and keeping the cars beneath cool

huhtenberg2• 7 years ago

The page isn’t redirecting properly

swebs• 7 years ago

http://archive.is/93QX3

huhtenberg2• 7 years ago

Unable to connect

It's just not my day, I guess :)

rdm_blackhole• 7 years ago

I am getting the same issue.

mapcars• 7 years ago

"from €149.000" sounds a bit too much

Tepix3• 7 years ago

I've ordered the Sono Sion¹ electric car. It has solar cells (1200W max) that will charge the car during the day adding - on average - 10km range per day (34km max in the summer).

I only drive a few kilometers per week. If everything goes well I won't have to charge the car for months.

The Sion has a rather small battery so its range is only 250km or so. Enough for me, but that's something that a significant number of people are not yet comfortable with.

¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sono_Motors_Sion

barney54• 7 years ago

Thank you for this comment because it puts one of the solar cars (at least the Sono Sion) in context--10 km range per day. It's a great option if that that work for you!

kozak• 7 years ago

The Wikipedia article says: "By the use of older – and thus no longer legally protected – components of traditional car manufacturers this low price compared to other electric cars is possible". Can anyone shed some light on this?

ehnto• 7 years ago

Maybe they mean they are using old designs no longer protected by patents?

icebraining• 7 years ago

The linked article says: "The Sion developers have deliberately combined several older - and thus no longer patented - components of traditional automakers in the car."

sokoloff• 7 years ago

I only drive a few kilometers per week.

Is it even worth owning a car to only drive a few kilometers per week, which seems to imply under 200 miles per year? The fixed costs would seem terribly onerous on a per-km basis.

gameswithgo• 7 years ago

i suppose if for some reason you can't ride a bike. Dangerous roads is a common limiter, or needing to carry heavy stuff.

Tepix3• 7 years ago

That's an important question. Sometimes I need to drive more. For now the answer is "yes", but perhaps this will be the last car i ever own.

cptskippy2• 7 years ago

The Sion has a rather small battery so its range is only 250km or so.

So twice that of a Nissan Leaf?

rwmj• 7 years ago

It's not much less than my terrible petrol Kia (220 miles / 350 km on a full tank).

vertnerd• 7 years ago

The 2018 Leaf in my garage will do 250km. The new Leaf plus is up to 360 km.

propertymagnate• 7 years ago

The name is rather bizarrely the inverse of the excellent Japanese director Sion Sono(1), popular and world famous (or at least instantly found via an internet search) since his 2001 hit, Suicide Circle(2).

The car looks great - does anyone know anything further about the naming?

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sion_Sono 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Club_(film))

nurettin• 7 years ago

If few means 1-3, that means just today in under an hour I may have walked more than you drive for two weeks.

ianbooker• 7 years ago

A friend of mine owned an Audi from 2003 that had a solar-covered sun roof feeding into the AC. On sunny days it would at least exchange enough air while parking so turning on the AC for small trips was not necessary. Just brilliant!

Digit-Al• 7 years ago

Sounds like Lightyear are trying to create some "Buzz". (Sorry)

cagenut• 7 years ago

Fully Charged just released a full 20 minute video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSbWwn_YCr8

Lightyear unveils the first long-range solar car on June 25

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