Lightyear unveils its long-awaited solar car

Lightyear, a company founded by alumni of Solar Team Eindhoven, introduced the first long-range solar car today. The prototype was presented to a select audience of investors, customers, partners and press at the break of dawn in the TheaterHangaar in Katwijk, the Netherlands. The first 100 cars have already been reserved via the Lightyear website, with expected delivery in 2021.

The Lightyear One, as it’s called, has been engineered starting from an untraditional perspective, following not convention but only the laws of physics, to purposefully design a car that ‘gets the most out of every ray of sunshine’. “Our main goal is to fill in where other electric cars fall short,” comments Lightyear CEO and co-founder Lex Hoefsloot. “Research has shown that range and the lack of charging options are still the top concerns that people have when considering electric cars.”

Hoefsloot continues: “We’re solving these issues with what we call ‘ultra-efficiency’. On one hand, that will lead to an exceptional range of 725 km on a relatively small battery. On the other hand, it can charge directly from the sun because its energy consumption is much lower, generating up to 20,000 km worth of energy per year. Moreover, you can charge up to 400 km per night from ordinary 230 V sockets. That’s great for road trips because you don’t need charging infrastructure.”