The Dutch EV startup company Lightyear has recently announced that it will mass-produce its Lightyear One SEV, a solar-powered electric vehicle, through contract vehicle manufacturer Valmet.
Through this contract manufacturing partnership, the prototype will begin production in January 2022, with the first limited edition production starting in the summer of the same year.
Founded in 1968, Valmet, the Finnish contract vehicle manufacturer, is one of the world’s top contract manufacturers. Valmet is currently manufacturing Mercedes GLC and A-Class cars and has also produced various Saab models and Porsche Boxter/Cayman series. Valmet also gained a €30 million investment from CATL by releasing 22% of its shares to build a pack factory in Finland.
In recent challenges, Lightyear achieved a continuous range of 710 km using a 60 kWh battery pack, boosted with an additional 3.5 kWh of extra power collected through solar energy. Lightyear claims to have the world’s most efficient inverters, hub motors, and solar panels, with exclusive low-energy consumption tires developed in partnership with the Japanese brand Bridgestone.
Lightyear One is a four-door, five-seater sedan with a body size of 5,057 x 1,898 x 1,426 mm. The four-wheel hub motors provide independent torque vectoring capability and a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of under 10 seconds. Solar panels can provide a charging speed of 12 km/1 hour.
The official website has now opened for pre-orders of 946 units of the limited first edition, priced at 150,000 euros. The deposit is also 150,000 euros. Are you willing to suffocate for the sake of freedom and range?
🔗Source: Lightyear
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