Germany’s Sono Motors Fields a $25,000 EV—with Solar—for Europe

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• Sono Motors—a Munich, Germany-based startup—is on tour in the US this month to show off its Sion electric car, a car sporting an electric powertrain and a body covered in solar panels.

• The company makes the optimistic claim that the solar panels will add up to 70 miles per week of range.

• Sono says the Sion’s 54-kilowatt-hour battery, made by BYD, will deliver a 190-mile range, though on what test cycle that is quoted is unclear.

If you’re skeptical about “solar cars,” well, you’ve had good reasons to be. Just as “air cars” (running on compressed air) aren’t really feasible for more than minuscule range, it’s pretty difficult to get enough panels onto a car to move it any significant distance. Bypassing the battery and using only solar is especially problematic. But, of course, automakers—Toyota, Hyundai, and Fisker are just three—can and do use solar panels for smaller onboard tasks, such as pre-heating or cooling the cabin.

Germany’s Sono Motors is trying to up the ante with its solar-aided, panel-covered Sion battery car, which it’s taking on a US tour this month. Actor/comedian Whoopi Goldberg showed up in Brooklyn, but Autoweek caught up with the team in Boston. With the Sion, solar is an add-on to a conventional EV.

The initial aim, says CEO Laurin Hahn—who started by electrifying and solar-powering a Renault Twingo with a partner when he was still in high school—is to produce an affordable electric car for Europe that can combat climate change. The company’s Sion crossover-type vehicle will sell for $25,000 when it goes on sale in 24 European countries in the second half of 2023. It’s certainly no race car with 168 horsepower moving 3700 pounds, but the Sion is said to reach 87 miles per hour.

Munich’s Sono was formed in 2016, and much of its time since then has been spent trying to develop lightweight solar panels that could be mounted on the Sion’s aluminum structure—on the hood, trunk and the vehicle’s side panels—without breaking.

The solution was panels embedded into honeycombed injection-molded polymer plastic. The company has 30 patents in the area, and is equally invested in selling its solar applications for use on transit buses, trucks, and other mobile platforms with available space. It says more than 20 companies are pilot testing the solar tech, including a branch of Mitsubishi Europe, Munich’s municipal bus fleet, MAN Truck and Bus, CHEREAU, and Kögel. “We want to lower dependence on charging,” Hahn said.

Sono’s other innovation is a proprietary MCU (Maximum Power Point Tracking Central Unit) that converts the low voltage from the panels into higher voltage the car can use. The Sion has 456 integrated solar half-cells, with a peak output of 1.2 kilowatts.