A lot of people think car innovation begins and ends with Tesla.
But Tesla was founded in 2003, almost 20 years ago.
Now, theres a new breed of automaker startups advancing materials innovation and sustainable motoring.
And theyre doing it using solar technology to makesolar electric vehicles.
The two startups are Lightyear Motors and Sonos Motors.
Lightyear Motors solar electric vehicles
Engineering student Lex Hoefsloot foundedLightyearin 2016 in the Netherlands.
Currently, the solar car company employs more than two hundred employees.
Lightyear has raised over $100 million in funding.
In the summer of 2019, Lightyear launched its first driving prototype Lightyear One.
The Lightyear One drove for over 710 kilometers (440 miles)on a single battery chargein July.
Pretty impressive, considering Lightyear One is still in prototype.
This is just the beginning.
TodaySibros, a pioneer of deep Over-the-Air (OTA) connected vehicle technology, announced a collaboration with Lightyear.
This is important, as compliance is hugely important in vehicle development and going to market.
The Sibros platform will produce usage insights to augment future product design enhancements.
The company is building a $175,000 model and plans for a cheaper version down the line.
Sion solar electric vehicles
Sionis a solar electric vehicle in production by German company Sono Motors.
The company was founded in 2016 and has over 200 employees.
Theyve raised over $126 million in funding.
The Sono solar technology replaces traditional paint with proprietary integrated solar panels that can form to various applications.
Usually, car makers laminate solar cells onto a 2 5 mm thick glass.
However, glass has a comparatively high weight and only low break resistance.
Sion, therefore, uses polymer as substrate material to make their solar electric vehicles.
It is light, resistant, and significantly more break-proof than glass.
The Sion costs 28,500 euros, including German VAT.
The company expects to start production in the first half of 2023.
Theres over15,000 reservationsvalued at $385 million.
We can expect an IPO very soon.
The common shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Market today under the ticker symbol SEV.
So which company will triumph?
Its tempting to pit the solar electric vehicles against each other.
Secondly, it shows a willing market of buyers.
They want to buy into the next big thing in cartech.
And we know that its the market that drives success in automaking.
Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin.
