This week at its “Celebrate the Sun” community event, solar mobility pioneer Sono Motors GmbH revealed the production design of what it calls the world’s first affordable solar electric vehicle (SEV).

At an estimated net sales price point of just €25,126, the Sion is expected to have one of the lowest total costs of ownership in the medium-size segment that includes the VW ID.3, Kia Niro EV, and Tesla Model 3.  Its proprietary solar technology contributes considerably to lower costs by reducing the necessity to conventionally plug-in charge the vehicle.

At the event, the company also unveiled its Solar Bus Kit, a scalable B2B retrofit solution that reduces fuel consumption and inner-city greenhouse gas emissions, thereby contributing to climate protection.

Starting as an idea among friends in a Munich garage in 2016, Sono is now led by cofounders and co-CEOs Laurin Hahn and Jona Christians, with help from CTO Markus Volmer, COO Thomas Hausch, and CFO Torsten Kiedel. The startup automaker has grown to become a pioneer in solar-powered transportation via its development of the Sion and supporting solar technology.

“The premieres of the Sion in its production design and the Solar Bus Kit represent a giant leap forward in realizing our vision for a sustainable world, furthering our mission to reduce carbon emissions,” said Hahn. “Production of our series-validation fleet and presenting the Sion in its production design is a further step towards delivering on our promise of an affordable solar-electric passenger vehicle. In addition, business diversification through the establishment of our B2B solar business as a strategic pillar helps us to achieve our key targets.”

As of July 1, the company had over 19,000 active private reservations for the car, with an average down-payment of €2225 netting sales of about €415 million—assuming that all of the reservations result in sales.

The final production design of the Sion received a number of enhancements compared to earlier concepts. The exterior and interior now feature fewer lines and simpler surfacing. Outside are new headlights and rear lights, bottom side design, door handles, a streamlined rear with a new camera and 3D lines, and a new charging lid. Inside, it is more spacious, with more storage, redesigned front seats and rear bench, and a new steering wheel—along with new color and trim for interior surfaces.

The body has 456 integrated solar half-cells to enable self-sufficiency on short journeys. The energy generated by them is expected to extend the estimated 305-km (190-mi) range of the Sion’s 54-kW·h LFP (lithium iron phosphate) battery by an average of 112 km (70 mi)—and up to 245 km (152 mi)—per week. The battery of the series validation vehicles is from BYD subsidiary FinDreams and Sono plans to integrate those batteries into the series as well. Commuters in German metropolitan areas will have to charge their Sion up to four times less than conventional electric cars of the same vehicle class with similar battery sizes.

The company believes it has a significant solar technological edge over competitors, with a polymer assembly that is lighter weight, faster to produce, and more affordable. It bases this belief on company information from Aptera, Lightyear, Fisker, Tesla, Hyundai, Toyota, Hanergy, and Fraunhofer. It has 23 patents in process, with 3 granted, 13 filed, and 7 in preparation.

The Sion’s battery will allow for a maximum charging capacity of up to 75 kW DC and 11 kW AC. Bidirectional charging technology complements the car’s solar integration and is designed to turn the Sion into a sustainable powerplant on wheels that is expected to be able to power electronic devices, homes, and other electric cars with an output up to 11 kW after the start of production via an OTA (over-the-air) update. The car will be powered by a 120-kW electric motor from Vitesco Technologies and have an optional tow bar.

The Sono app will enable community car sharing, which allows people to share every car with a trusted community of friends, family, neighbors, and acquaintances. Sono will support car owners and sharing users with insurance, automated payments, and an easy booking system.

Sono Motors is currently building its fleet of series-validation vehicles in Munich close to the company’s HQ, and testing has already begun. This vehicle generation will undergo practical tests under extreme conditions in both Europe and the U.S. This includes series validation, homologation, crash tests, climate testing, optimizing solar technology and safeguarding, as well as refining driving dynamics on test tracks and public roads.

The company is taking an “asset-light approach” with production, which is planned for the second half of 2023 via a contract manufacturing deal with Valmet Automotive in Finland. After a ramp-up period, the partners aim to produce about 257,000 Sion vehicles over 7 years.

During Sono’s Q1 2002 earnings call in June, the company reported that its all-important solar body panels through a continuous improvement process were in their sixth generation, with the first components mounted as part of the series-validation vehicle assembly process. For the series-validation fleet, the first bodies-in-white had been finished and e-coated, with more than 80,000 parts and components delivered for 16 complete vehicles; the company plans to build a total of 37 cars and bodies-in-white. The concept planning phase for the production process had started, with the first production machines/robots ordered.

The Solar Bus Kit, a B2B retrofit solution designed to enable sustainable mobility for commercial transport, is optimized for the most common 12-m public transport bus types on the European market including the Mercedes-Benz Citaro and MAN Lion City. It is intended for bus fleet operators that need to reduce diesel consumption and CO2 emissions to meet their sustainability goals.

The kit allows subsystems like the HVAC to be partially powered by renewable energy, saving fuel, CO2, and costs. Up to 1500 L of diesel and 4 t of CO2 per bus per year can be saved from the 1.4 kW peak installation with a total size of about 8 m² (86 ft²) of solar panels. Bus fleet operators could see a potential payback time of about 3-4 years, depending on days in operation and fuel prices.

“Our solar technology is already contributing to climate protection and reducing CO2 emissions for numerous partners,” said Christians. “In Munich, for example, we are collaborating with the city’s public transport company and are thereby supporting the city’s clean air targets.”

He added that the kit will help accelerate the company’s mission of making every vehicle a solar vehicle: “The all-new Solar Bus Kit allows us to strengthen our solar business by maximizing the scalability of our technology to a huge market: the public and private bus fleet sector.”

Sono is on track with its plan to diversify its business with a growing number of customized solar solutions delivered to several B2B customers. It is partnering with 19 companies worldwide—including MAN Truck & Bus and refrigerated semi-trailer and truck leader Chereau—to implement its solar technology on a variety of vehicle architectures such as buses, trailers, trucks, and electric transporters.

At the September IAA Transportation event in Hanover, Germany, Sono will announce more details on the Solar Bus Kit—and the refrigerated trailer will premiere there too.

Further international expansion is Sono’s clear long-term goal, and the company believes the U.S. offers great growth potential. However, it is currently focused on getting the Sion and Solar Bus Kit onto the European market. It anticipates that the Sion will hit roads in the DACH (Germany, D; Austria, A; and Switzerland, CH) region in the second half of 2023.