Lightyear One: The very first solar-powered vehicle you can purchase
One of the biggest problems with today’s. Fully. Electric vehicles is their range. Most of the Eevee’s. You can buy right now can’t, go more than a few hundred miles without needing a charge.
The problem is there’s, this some giant ball of energy floating around that can charge our cars. While we drive this week, we got our first look at a prototype for the light year. One now we first heard about this back in 2017 from Dutch startup the light year.
This is a solar-powered electric vehicle with an advertised range of about 450 miles. Ceo Lex hoof salute when it hits the market, it will probably be the most sustainable car on the market, and we’re super motivated to build electric cars to build solar cars in which people will never have to worry about charging.
Now the solar cells sit on the hood and the roof. They’re protected by safety glass that the company says is strong enough for an adult to walk on without causing any vents light. Your says, the panel’s themselves could generate enough juice to drive more than 12,000 miles a year in the right conditions read 365 days in a desert, and yes, it can also be charged through traditional charging stations because, basically anywhere on earth.
You have two energy sources, one is the Sun and two is ordinary power outlets company says you can expect 250 miles of range from a standard overnight charge now aesthetically. I think this design is pretty slick on the outside, though the inside definitely leaves something to be desired, especially given the price tag.
Now we’ll, get to that in a minute to increase efficiency, light your design, the car to be super lightweight thanks to those solar cells, that battery is pretty light and small, so that means compared to a heavier evie.
You get more range for that same amount of energy, so now we got to a point that we can actually match energy consumption and anji youth, and that is a very magical moment. What’s really interesting is the motors instead of having just one or two that indirectly drive the wheels.
Let your one will use individual Motors for each wheel now let your says that reduces parasitic loss through the drivetrain and the company says the one will be on sale in Europe by 2021, though you can go on lightyears website and reserve one right now, starting for A price tag of around $ 135,000 for reference that’s, seven thousand dollars more than a fully loaded Tesla Model.
S now also take that date with a grain of salt. Back in 2017, light year said we’d, see the prototype in 2018 and that the one would hit the market this year. Still the company says it’s already locked in 100 reservations.
As for the US, there’s. No plans to bring the one here anytime soon I reached out to Lightyear, who told me we do want to expand the US market at a later stage, but for now we are working toward first deliveries in Europe.
Of course, one of the main selling points here is the carbon footprint. While they don’t produce emissions directly. Today’s, electric vehicles still rely on the grid for power. A car that can generate its own power from the Sun could theoretically be pretty close to operating carbon neutral again.
What we saw this week was just a prototype and if the one does hit the market as planned, it’s, a long way from becoming affordable for the most of us. Now to me, the real question is now that this concept is closer to a reality.
Will automakers like Tesla and GM follow suit, because we all know that nothing gives innovation and nudge better than a little competition and let’s face it. Neiman musk knows a little about competition to see how he and other innovators are trying to improve technology.
Using your brain click here for last week’s. What the future that’s it for this week, I’m. Andy Altman, I’ll, see you in the future.
