The Lightyear 0 (formerly the Lightyear One) is an upcoming all-solar-electric car by

Lightyear A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

. Production was originally scheduled to start in 2021, with a starting price of incl. VAT (). The first units are to be delivered in 2022.

Description

The Lightyear 0 is a large fastback, with the bonnet, roof and boot clad with of

solar cell A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.

s, with a WLTP range of and designed with a record . The company Lightyear claims there are 782 solar cells across the car that can add of range per day during summer. Lightyear one Fully Charged Europe 2022 6

Lightyear one Fully Charged Europe 2022 6

The car is all-wheel drive, with four in-wheel electric

hub motor The wheel hub motor (also called wheel motor, wheel hub drive, hub motor or in-wheel motor) is an electric motor that is incorporated into the hub of a wheel and drives it directly. History * First wheel motor concept: Wellington Adams of ...

s powered by a low-mounted battery. It seats five adults and luggage.

History

The solar panel design was born out of the

Solar Team Eindhoven Stella and its successors Stella Lux, Stella Vie and Stella Era are a series of solar racing family cars, built for the World Solar Challenge in Australia, sofar winning its ''Cruiser Class'' all four times it was held – in 2013, 2015, 2017 a ...

's solar-powered cars for the

World Solar Challenge The World Solar Challenge (WSC), since 2013 named Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, is an international event for solar powered cars driving 3000 kilometres through the Australian outback. With the exception of a four-year gap between ...

. Design work on the Lightyear 0 was carried out together with GranStudio in Italy.

Price and availability

Announced on 25 June 2019, production was scheduled to start in 2021, mentioning a starting price of incl. VAT (). In September 2021, Lightyear were reported to have raised to bring the vehicle to production, and delivering the first units in 2022, for the price of incl. VAT ().Lightyear raises $110 million to bring its $170,000 'solar' electric car to market - Electrek(archived)
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References

External links

* {{Automotive industry in the Netherlands Electric concept cars Solar-powered vehicles Upcoming car models Cars introduced in 2019 Automotive industry in the Netherlands