Electromobility
Slimmed down, but extraordinary: start-up wants to bring electric cars with solar roofs onto the market
The Sion, an electric car with an integrated solar roof, is scheduled to hit the market in 2023
© Sono Motors
A start-up from Munich is working on an electric car that gets its energy from its solar roof. The car is still in the development phase. Production is scheduled to start in 2023.
Electric cars usually rely on a power supply from a socket, a public charging station or from the in-house power supply. The Sion from Sono Motors, on the other hand, is supposed to charge itself – with the help of integrated solar cells on the vehicle roof.
Behind it is a Munich start-up that is building the electric car with 248 solar cells. An average of 16 kilometers of range should be added each day. “If the weather cooperates, one charge is enough to drive 1000 kilometers,” says Sales Director Thomas Hausch of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
Because in addition to solar energy, the Sion – like a classic electric vehicle – should be able to be charged at any public charging station in Europe, a household socket or another Sion. According to the company, a battery charge of 80 percent can be achieved in 35 minutes at a quick charging station. The 54 kWh battery should have a range of 305 kilometers. The cockpit is innovative, albeit kept simple. In addition to two large displays that show, among other things, the driving speed and the charge level of the battery, a strip of moss behind a layer of glass stands out. This is mainly used to clean and filter air from the air conditioning system.
The Sion comes with a 120 kW front-wheel drive engine and takes nine seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100. Its top speed is 140 km / h. The compact class should appear as a five-door and exclusively with black paint. The purchase price is 25,500 euros. According to the current status, Sono customers have to forego the e-car bonus.
Electric car with car sharing concept
Another special feature of the Sion is hidden behind the manufacturer’s concept of making its electric car available to the public based on the car sharing principle. An app replaces the key and enables other users to use the electric car as well. You can reserve the entire vehicle, drive together with other people or split the electricity costs.
Sono Motors reckons with twelve people sharing an average of one car. This should reduce the costs for the user by 85 percent and increase the utilization by up to 150 percent.
Reservation already possible
The plans of the Munich start-up seem well thought out. But things are not really running smoothly at Sono Motors yet. Series production was repeatedly postponed. After the current second generation of prototypes, however, the third is expected to appear in the first half of 2022. According to the manufacturer, development has progressed so far that “no more fundamental changes” need to be made.
However, structural adjustments are currently being made to the car. After crash simulations, the Sion has grown by 16 centimeters; for a larger crumple zone and more space for hardware, the battery still needs to be tweaked a bit, and the fastening concept for the roof module and the sun visors is still to be revised. This should have happened by December. The start of production is specified for the first half of 2023. Customers can reserve the Sion online by paying a deposit of 500 euros.
Sources: Sono Motors, Southgerman newspaper, Of the mirrors