Dutch startup Lightyear is working on producing the first solar-powered car. Lightyear's Founder and CEO of Lex Hoefsloot joined Cheddar News to discuss. “If you ask customers why they're not driving an electric car today, then very often you get back to the three core arguments of cost, range, and charging and we've just been quite radical in our approach,” he said.

Closing Bell

Solar Cars May Be Here Sooner Than You Think

solar powered car maker Lightyear raising the equivalent of $81 million in a new funding round from a consortium of public investors anchored by invest and out the startup is going to use the funds to start production of its first vehicle called the light year zero, which can charge from the sun or a regular household socket. Lightyear says the vehicle aims to reinvent the wheel when it comes to energy consumption, range capability and charging and joining me now is lex who founder and Ceo of Lightyear lex, thanks so much for coming on the show. So give me some more details here about how you're trying to shake up the auto space. Yeah. So what we see is if you ask customers whether, why they're not driving an electric car today. And then very often you get back to the three core arguments of cost range and charging and we've just been quite radical in our approach where we believe that if you make cars more efficient actually, you can get most of the energy directly from the roof and the hood of the car and therefore, um, in a lot of countries around the world, for instance, Spain and Italy with like year zero. So the first card going to market in a couple of months, you would get more energy in from the solar panel and then you'll actually need to drive from daily distances. So it means that effectively you have an energy positive card, it's pretty amazing just how positive lex is this for the environment. Well, it's so electric cars in a way of course only solve half the problem. Right? So it's, it's making the car electric, but it's not yet getting that from a clean source. So by by adding those two together, having this sort of panel directly on the roof of the car, you save a lot of space that you would need somewhere else. You save a lot of charging points. You save a lot of costs because you get the energy basically for free from the sun and you save a lot of just charging hassle. Right? So you don't have to plug in anymore only for a really long trips or when you're driving a lot in certain weeks, then you can still charge from a normal socket or from a fall sergeant point. But the idea really is to make electric driving affordable. Um, and get and make it just more convenient. Make it more convenient than your conversion car. So this might seem like a silly question, but I think people might be wondering if it's a cloudy day, does that impact, how much energy this car would be able to basically take in versus a sunny day. Yeah, of course. So there's definitely a difference. Um, so we have a battery in the car. Uh, 60 kilowatt hour on that. You get guides and range just so at night or when it's very cloudy, you will still get about 400 miles of range. Um, and that means you also buffer. So in a week of where you have more clouds. Um, you would just use the battery in a week for son. You will recharge the battery. Um, so effectively for a lot of places in the US, you would only need to charge about once a month or two. That is pretty impressive. So you feel like even on these long haul trips, like it's definitely reliable. Yeah, exactly. And, and it's mostly due to the fact that it has suffered in the battery back in the car as well. So in a, in a way of course, it's just a much more efficient electric car that has solar on the roof. So we're working mostly in the technology to make it possible. We have motors in the wheels and, and solar panels that are ultra efficient that it can curve in two directions. Um, and the next step really is to bring that to mass markets well, it does come at a price. I see buyers for the light years, zero lex can expect to pay €250,000. What's the target demographic? And will there be any less expensive offerings down the road? Yeah, exactly. So that the first car really is meant to show that it's possible. So if you, if you would have asked people, well this year, even whether there will be solar cars driving on the roads and people would say like, no, well of course not because they're not here. Right. But so like you want to go into production this year ready to show that it's possible to get most of the energy actually, yeah, all of the energy directly from the sun. So that's the first step. Next step is to bring this into much higher volumes together with our contract manufacturer, Um, and get it to mass market. So that luxury to our next vehicle will start at 30K. So at a much more decent price point. Um, and also one of the biggest advantages of the whole concept is actually cost. We usually have a small battery, you get free energy and that means that it's just more affordable to drive in the end. Right. So not today. I do agree. But that's the potential of the concept. Okay, very cool. Let's hope for some sunny days ahead. Likes to power up these vehicles. That's like hoof slowed founder and Ceo of Lightyear, thank you