Lightyear: world's first long-range solar car ready for production

Every year, fossil-fueled cars combined drive what adds up to a lightyear of kilometres. Dutch tech startup Lightyear One wants these to be solar-powered kilometres! The first step: The Lightyear 0, which was presented 9 June 2022 and comes into production in fall 2022; and will be the first long-range solar car in the world.

Lightyear
Driving without charging

Imagine being able to drive without charging for months on end. You live in a sunny climate? Awesome! You live in the Netherlands? Don't despair just yet. The Lightyear 0 has a battery with a range of 625 kilometres, which you can plug into a regular socket. And with every sunny day, a max. of 70 km is added to your action radius. Sounds good? The Lightyear 0 is still a little pricy at 250,000 euros, but a much cheaper Lightyear 2 is expected to follow in 2024 or 2025.

Lightyear 2

Lightyear One's goal is to make clean mobility accesible to everyone, everywhere. The Lightyear 0 is supposed to be a low-volume proof of concept, Lightyear 2 makes solar electric vehicles affordable and accessible to the general public. At an estimated 30,000 euros, the Lightyear 2 promises its lucky owners between 6,000 and 11,000 "free, effortless and clean" kilometres annually.