Lightyear One promises to increase its range by 7 miles per hour using only the sun
The World Solar Challenge is a race that spans 1,878 miles inland Australia. Held every two or three years since 1987, the race is usually conducted by a university or company vehicle and must be conducted entirely on solar energy. Somehow, the Dutch team has won their class title 10 times in 15 matches held so far and finished second three times. While most WSC "cars" don't seem to be suitable for consumer transport, Dutch university team Solar Team Eindhoven has won three terms in the larger "Cruiser" category because they may legitimately use multi-passenger vehicles on the road. Some of the program's graduates founded Lightyear in Heilmond, the Netherlands, to use the team's vast knowledge at WSC to produce solar cars. That car, Lightyear One,
What is Lightyear One?
Drawing on Tesla, Lucid, Rivian, and most other successful EV startups, the first product — cleverly known as Lightyear One — would be a large, spacious, expensive sedan. Its external dimensions are almost perfectly matched to those of the Mercedes CLS class. A 54-square-foot solar cell in a 16-foot fast-back body makes room (rearview camera compensates for occluded rear visibility).
The interior dimensions are not shared, but due to the use of a four-wheel hub motor, the packaging space should be large, and the hatchback and folding seats provide seat up/down luggage space for the Nissan Rogue SUV.
How much solar energy, how many batteries?
Solar cells cover everything from the top of the windshield to most of the levels at the trailing edge of the hatch, a setup that Lightyear claims could add about 7 miles of electricity per hour when ideally parked, and validating prototypes typically adds 25 miles of solar energy to batteries on cloudy days. Whenever the sun is shining, the car charges itself, but when it's driving, it can consume most of the power.
Obviously, no one doesn't stop at this rig when traversing inland, but compared to the solar roof, the 200-watt roof that a2-solar makes for the Karma Revero sedan claims to add 1.5 miles a day in California, or the proposal for Fisker's ocean SUV claims it will add 4-5 miles per day, which is impressive. Still, to make sure no one is trapped, there's also a 60 kWh battery on board, which you can charge with a regular EV charger. This effectively makes the solar array a range extender, like the micro gas engines used in some electric vehicles, which can extend the battery's range on the go or away from the charger.
Smart new solar technology
This performance comes from the new SunPower fork finger back-contact photovoltaic cells mounted on the Endurans Solar conductive backplane. Boiling this daunting word salad, it explains why the light-year hood and roof look completely black, with no silver conductors constituting discrete solar collector patches. Not only does this help make the car look better, but it also maximizes the PV area, minimizes battery-to-module power loss, and increases power output by 3%.
"Free travel", but how far is it?
Stopping in the sun all day, some Americans may get free daily commuter miles. As for battery range, the EPA has no official estimates, but Europe's more optimistic WLTP test cycle has set the Lightyear One's range at 450 miles. And because government-wide testing is conducted on indoor dynamometers, none of these miles are solar. For a large car, the range achieved on a modest 60 kWh battery pack is long. Lightyear attributes this to greater efficiency.
How efficient is Lightyear One?
Efforts to improve efficiency include a body made primarily of aluminum and carbon fiber, claiming to weigh less than 2,900 pounds — something unheard of in an all-electric, high-endurance five-seater sedan. Then there's the slippery teardrop shape of the body, the pneumatic flat wheels covered with spikes at the rear, and the side-view mirrors replaced with cameras, all of which are said to result in a drag coefficient of 0.20. (NHTSA is expected to allow side-view cameras soon.) Finally, ultra-low rolling resistance Bridgestone Turanza Eco tires are said to break new ground in terms of reduced weight and energy consumption without spending miles or grip.
There are also no official government energy consumption test results to cite, but Lightyear claims that one averages 83 watt-hours per kilometer and has no HVAC load. This corresponds to 252 mpg-e. HVAC loads are said to increase energy consumption by 35 percent, but let's assume they're sandbags and add 50 percent to the 83-Wh/km figure. That's still up to 168 mpg-e – something unheard of for a full-size sedan.
What about power supplies?
What do you think? Lightyear believes the evicted railgun market is now saturated enough that as we move towards a future of autonomous driving, the last thing riders reading phones want is a 1-g launch. As a result, the four in-wheel motors are very gentle, with a total power of only 136 hp and 885 lb-ft of torque. And don't let torque numbers create unrealistic expectations. Keep in mind that if these motors move inward, they multiply at a torque of at least 8:1 than the rotary gear reducer. So expect lightyear one to accelerate, just as it packs a 111-pound-foot combination from a conventional motor. The company estimates that the time from 0-60 is about 10 seconds.
Who will build and sell Lightyear One? How much does it cost?
Lightyear has reached an agreement with Finnish contract manufacturer Valmet Automotive to start production of the Lightyear One in mid-2022. The first 946 first-edition models will be released for exclusive sale, and like Tesla, Rivian and Lucid, it will be sold directly to consumers.
Expected to start at around $175,000, it will even exceed the price of today's top electric sedan. This obviously needs to help recoup the huge cost of putting any new car into production, and one's Spartan or even Tesla-standard interior design, small screens and lack of sunroofs remain to be seen, not to mention slow performance, working for customers with this cash.
Considering that the overall weight of the Lightyear One is extremely small and the under-spring weight of the wheel motor is considerable, the quality of the ride is another question mark. Will One pass come together with the mainstream wealthy elite?
What's next in light-years?
Why, of course, is the second light-year! Some basic details about this smaller, more affordable model have just been released. Basically, the company is targeting a base price of 30,000 euros ($34,000) for its domestic market, while increasing efficiency, possibly expanding range from smaller, cheaper batteries. The goal is to significantly reduce the total cost of ownership in order to improve access to green mobility. Production targets are late 2024, early 2025 in Europe, and then in the U.S. Lightyear announced that Dutch fleet management company LeasePlan has committed to buying 5,000 Lightyear Two models.
We support Lightyear's ambitious plan to democratize green transportation, but this business plan sounds familiar. Remember the long-promised $35,000 Tesla Model 3 finally arrived in 2019, but the advertising ink dried up and disappeared? But hey, Tesla didn't even participate in the World Solar Challenge, let alone three consecutive championships...