Startup Sono Motors failed to launch production of solar electric cars and is now selling prototypes at auction
Solar-powered electric cars never became a mass phenomenon, and many companies that tried to bring them to the market ended up going bankrupt. German startup Sono Motors is one such example. Now you can buy a piece of the failed electric car revolution for just a few hundred euros.
Here's What We Know
The project of solar electric car Sion company closed in 2023, citing unfavourable market conditions and the need to move to a less costly business model. A few years before that, huge funds were invested in the development, but serial production has not started.
Now on the Austrian auction site sell off everything that remains of the project: from individual parts to full-fledged prototypes. The lots include a dozen new electric motors at a starting price of €50 ($58) apiece, front seats for €14 ($16), rear sofas from €30 ($35) and "bare" bodywork without panels from €100 ($116). There are also suspension, interior components, and solar panels.
The main trophies are the Sion prototypes. These include a strange Renault Twingo-based "mule" with headlights from the first-generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class (from €600 / $699), several later prototypes, and a camouflaged specimen with working multimedia, which had been bid at €750 ($874) by the time of publication. There's even a green crumpled body after a crash test that went on sale.
All cars are undocumented and not allowed on public roads. But individual components, such as motors or batteries, can be used in other projects - although without technical documentation, integration will be difficult.
Sono Motors showed the first prototype in 2017 and planned to start sales in 2019. The car had 330 solar cells, which were supposed to add up to 29 kilometres of range from sunlight to the roughly 160 kilometres of reserve provided by the in-built 30 kWh battery. The project launched on Indiegogo, raising more than $700,000 from 1,100 investors. Two versions were originally planned, but the basic one with a range of 80-100 km was quickly cancelled and the interior was made five-seater instead of six-seater to save money.
In 2022, the last prototype went on a three-week tour of the US. By this time, the design was updated, the price was kept at $25,000, and production was postponed again - to the second half of 2023. Production was to be handled by Finland's Valmet Automotive, known for assembling the Fisker Karma hybrid.
The final version of the Sion received 456 solar cells, which theoretically could give 110-240 km of "free" travel, and a 54 kWh LFP battery with a reserve of up to 305 kilometres. Fast charging was promised up to 75 kW (DC) or 11 kW (AC). Sono Motors collected 45,000 paid orders by the end of 2022, but the project was finally shut down in early 2023, switching to selling solar panels to other companies.
Source: Electrive
