Lightyear announces it will build a mid-priced solar EV by 2025

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There certainly was a buzz at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, as Dutch tech company Lightyear announced it’s going to be building the Lightyear 2, its second production car with the ability to be powered by the sun.

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Even more unusual is that while its first production car, the Lightyear 0 – the Lightyear One name went on the company’s prototype vehicle – comes with a price tag of €250,000 (approximately $356,300 in Canadian currency), the Lightyear 2 is targeted to come in below €40,000 ($57,000).

The car, which was only announced with teaser shots, is planned for production in Finland and built by Valmet Automotive, a manufacturing partner for companies including Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, and which also develops and makes battery systems. Lightyear said the new model will start production by the end of 2025 and will be launched in the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Europe. Consumers can join an online waitlist, which in turn will give them a first-in-line chance at actually pre-ordering a car. Lightyear said it already has 21,000 pre-orders from leasing and ride-hailing partners globally.

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The car’s roof and hood are covered in five square metres of solar panels that feed power into the battery. The battery still gets charged by plugging it in, but the solar panels act as an auxiliary source and the combination can produce up to 800 kilometres of range before the car needs charging again, the company said. Under optimum conditions of a very sunny day, the solar panels could contribute 70 km of driving range per day.

The extra boost from the solar panels means a smaller battery can be used, which reduces weight and requires less time to charge. Each wheel is driven by its own motor, reducing mechanical energy loss, and the car is constructed with lightweight materials and aerodynamic styling. The company said the Lightyear 2 will create half the lifetime CO2 emissions of a conventional electric vehicle.

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Lightyear has been around since 2016, and unveiled the prototype Lightyear One in 2019, which in testing achieved a range of 771 km. In July 2022, the company announced it had formed a partnership with supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg. That’s also when it announced that the expensive Lightyear 0 would go into limited production, with no more than 946 built, and with the first one delivered by November 2022. That said, it’s not clear if that deadline was met, or if anyone actually has one of these cars at home, soaking up sunlight in the driveway. If nothing else, Lightyear still has a couple of years ahead of its promised date for a car that should certainly interest more people with a tag that’s a fraction of the Lightyear 0’s sun-and-sky-high price.