New solar powered car by Lightyear

Lightyear One solar car is expensive but fun!

A European start-up has some cool game changing technology in their new electric vehicle that might be perfect for Aussies.

Lightyear is founded by a Dutch group who found success in Australia’s World Solar Challenge.

They claim to have solved EV range anxiety and reduced reliance on charging infrastructure. Lightyear’s very first production car combines a regular electric car battery with solar panels.

The Details

It’s quite expensive, priced from €149,000 ($243,300) plus import duty, GST and luxury car taxes which would add more than $90,000 to the car’s cost if and when it comes to Australia.
Five square metres of solar panels placed on the roof, boot and bonnet.
12 kilometres of range for every hour the car spends in the sun.
100 kilometres of driving range charged from the sun at no cost during standard working day.
Lightyear claims a substantial 725 kilometres of range through its battery (which you can plug in to charge at a rate of up to 570km of range per hour)
Start a long drive with a full charge, the solar panels will extend your trip by at least 85 kilometres in clear conditions.
Ditch the tow truck – If the battery goes flat on a sunny day, Lightyear One’s solar array can soak up enough energy for steady running at 15 to 20km/h.
10 seconds to reach 100km/h — roughly twice as long as cars like Tesla.
Safety is accounted for by just two airbags at a time when Mercedes’ cheapest car has nine.

Solar panels on cars aren’t new. A few brands including Audi, Toyota and Mazda have used them to keep cabins cool and ventilated before drivers pop behind the wheel.

But a production car powered in part by solar energy isn’t the industry trend for EV’s.

The brand’s website has a calculator that shows potential Lightyear owners in sunny Alice Springs would get almost 74 days a year of cruisy motoring (working from a 20,000 kilometre annual average), nearly twice as much as in Melbourne.

Energetic-Consulting-Lightyear-Inside