Lightyear 0 solar-powered car revealed with 2022 delivery date

[Redaktion]

Lightyear has unveiled the Lightyear 0, a car powered partly by a solar panel on its roof. The vehicle will go into production in the Fall, with deliveries expected to start in November. The car has a 625 km (~388 miles) range and a top speed of 160 kph (~99 mph). The company estimates that the car could last for around seven months between charges in a sunny climate.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lightyear-0-solar-powered-car-revealed-with-2022-delivery-date.628519.0.html

[Rasec]

Clearly a SCAM. The concept makes absolutely no sense. You cant run a real common car by covering it with solar panels. Proponents should all face jail time and financiers should be forced to redo elementary school.

[anan]

The car is supposed to have a 1 kW solar panel. That is hard to believe since it only covers the roof. But if it holds true then it is possible that it would produce the numbers they are claiming.

[Eldar]

Read the whole article. Battery is the main energy storage in this car. Photovoltaic panels will only be able to charge a small percentage of the battery each day and only under favourable conditions. The car will always have to be charged from the wall, photovoltaic panels will only add to this

[_MT_]

Read the whole article. Battery is the main energy storage in this car. Photovoltaic panels will only be able to charge a small percentage of the battery each day and only under favourable conditions. The car will always have to be charged from the wall, photovoltaic panels will only add to this

"The Lightyear 0 weighs 1,575 kg (3,472 lbs) and has a 625 km (~388 miles) range thanks to a 60 kWh battery pack. The car will be able to gain 70 km (~43 miles) each day from the solar panel on the vehicle's roof, up to 11,000 km (~6,835 miles) annually. Lightyear estimates that in a cloudy climate, commuting 35 km (~22 miles) per day, you would be able to travel for up to two months before you would need to charge."
70 km per day is quite a lot. And assuming you commute 20 days per month, that is 1400 km per charge with 625 km claimed battery range giving you 775 km of range on solar power which works out to about 13 km per day (61 days of solar charging). I wouldn't call that "small percentage" (it's ~55 %). Of course, if you drive 200 km everyday, it won't help much.

Assuming the panel actually has the power they claim etc. the biggest issue I see is that we have these things called garages which are often underground as well. When Audi had a solar panel to power ventilation system, that was clever - you leave a car sitting in the sun, ventilator keeps running the whole time to limit interior overheating. But that's not how I want to leave my car. I paid extra to have a garage. Which is convenient when you have an electric car as it's easier to place a charger there.

[_MT_]

I wanted to write "it won't help as much."