Contents
Overview
With the vision of “increasing efficiency and saving our environment” and the motive as “Freedom to move Everywhere”, the Dutch electric vehicle start-up ‘Lightyear’ has launched its solar car named as Lightyear 0.
Lightyear 0 is described as the world’s first production ready solar car, and it is said to be a modified version of Lightyear One in every aspect. The Lightyear 0 project of the company is based on the Phase 0 of the strategy. Phase 0 refers to “Everywhere”. This phase shows that their cars can be driven everywhere.
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In the matter of looks every component has been redesigned including bumpers, headlights, taillights, new door handles, side cameras moved to the front fenders and new aero wheels. An aero cover option is also available at no-cost.
Talking about the body structure, the outer panels are made up of carbon fibres material’s residue and consists of solar panels under the hood and its roof, whereas the inside changes are very profound. It includes the addition of 2 air vents, new center display.
The inside cabin features fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles, plant based leather and wooden deco elements.
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Lightyear 0 can be considered as unbeaten when it comes to the specifications. Talking about the range so it can be driven up to 388 Miles (625 KMs) in a single full charge. It also contains 5m2 double curved solar panels which can provide an extra 44 miles (70 KMs) of range per day in ideal conditions.
Considering about cloudy seasons, the Dutch start-up claims that Lightyear 0’s solar panels can produce enough electricity to cover 22 miles (35 KMs) a day.
The coefficient of drag is <0.19, thanks to which Lightyear 0’s energy use is 10.5 kWh per 169 Wh (100 KMs) per mile.
In consideration of charging, the EV start-up utters that no charging would be required for 2 months in cloudy areas on an average driving distance of 22 miles (35 KMs) or up to 7 months in the sunny countries like UAE, Egypt, and African countries.
The strategy for Lightyear 0’s future is that its first test drive will happen in July and August 2022 then its production will occur in Finland from September to November this year and the first delivery of the car will be made before the end of this year.
Some of the key specifications of Lightyear 0:
| Specification | Value |
| WLTP Range | 625 Kms |
| Drag Coefficient Value (Cd) | < 0.19 |
| Weight | 1575 Kg |
| Solar Charge per day max. | 70 Km |
| Trunk Space (seats up) | 640 L |
| Energy Use | 10.5 kWh / 100 km |
| Solar yield per year max. | 11000 km** |
| Center Console | 12 L |
** Solar yield will be varying depending on the different locations. This estimate is based on the southern region of Spain.
Maximum charging speeds of Lightyear 0:
| Solar Charging | Plug Charging | ||
| 10 km/h* | Home Charging | Public Charging | Fast Charging |
| 32 km/h* | 200 km/h* | /h* |
*Maximum range in 1 hour charging. Peak charging power may vary throughout the charging cycle.
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