Lightyear solar-powered car a clean, lean machine

Lightyear 0 is the world’s first solar powered car - boasting 625km of range, a 60kWh battery and five square metre of solar panels

Lightyear CEO, Lex Hoefsloot, presenting the Lightyear 0 at the global premiere

An all-new kind of EV — powered by the sun and slathered in solar panels from tip to tail, and inspired by Australia’s own World Solar Challenge — is coming; meet the “Lightyear”.

A five-man team from the Netherlands — three-time winners of the 3000km solar-powered car race held biennially in the Australian Outback since 1987 — have unveiled an EV clad in solar panels, which can provide between 6,000km and 11,000km of free, clean driving range every year.

The buzz around the prototype Lightyear 0 — which The Australian bumped into at a car show in Le Mans, France — is that it already comes with a sizeable 625km of claimed range, with the solar panels acting as a back-up source of power that can add an extra 70km of range (as long as the sun is shining) should you be unable to get to an EV charging station.

In the flesh, it looks slightly ungainly, but undeniably modern, and not unlike some of the entries in the World Solar Challenge — an event held to explore the limits of solar-powered vehicle technology generally entered by universities and corporations — over the years. That event was the birthplace of the Lightyear brand, as the Dutch entrants asked each other, “So why wouldn’t one of these work as a road car”?

According to Lightyear CEO Lex Hoefsloot, the arrival of the Lightyear couldn’t come at a better time.

Lightyear CEO Lex Hoefsloot

“CO2 output has gone up 20 per cent in the last two decades and temperatures continue to rise; we need to accelerate our solutions before climate change is insurmountable,” Mr Hoefsloot said.

“Combustion-engine cars are a major contributor to the problem because of their dependency on fossil fuels, and electric cars, while a step in the right direction, have a scaling problem, because of charging infrastructure and range limitations – making life too complex for the driver.

“Solar energy is the way to surpass these problems, simplify the solution, and expedite the end of climate change.”

Founded in 2016, the company unveiled its first production-ready model of the Lightyear 0 in June this year, with the vehicle’s roof, bonnet and tailgate covered in five square metres of curved solar panels that harness renewable energy straight from the sun, although its 60kWh battery can also be charged via the traditional method of plugging into a charger.

After six years of R&D, design, engineering, prototyping, and testing, The Lightyear 0 is going into production

“The first production vehicles of the Lightyear 0 will be manufactured in Finland this coming Spring in the facility of our production partner, Valmet,” Hoefsloot explained.

“We expect the first car to be delivered in November this year and at the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025, we will launch our high-volume series, which will be available in the UK, US, and eventually Asia and other markets.”

Although it will undoubtedly save on fuel costs as it can even charge while parked or commuting — Lightyear claims drivers will have the ability to travel for up to seven months without plugging into a household outlet or charging station. This claim seems more likely to be possible in areas with plenty of sunny days, of course.

Unfortunately, initial models of the Lightyear 0 will only be available to eco-conscious types with deep pockets.

The clean, minimalist lines of the Lightyear 0 interior

“The Lightyear 0 costs $A372,420 — it is a world first and our statement car, which has been designed to prove our technology and prepare the world for the subsequent high-volume series, priced at $A44,690,” Hoefsloot said.

Although the auto industry has been slow to adopt solar technology, Mr Hoefsloot says more manufacturers are getting on board.

“With Lightyear 0, we aim to prove that it is feasible to drive on solar energy,” he says.

“Our mission is clean mobility for everyone, everywhere, and we will need other manufacturers to join us if we are to achieve this ambitious goal.

“On a technical level, solar technology is improving rapidly, becoming better understood and less expensive, so advancing this technology is easier today than it was 20 or 30 years ago.”

And with that, he’s off, presumably to Infinity and Beyond.