The German firm Sono Motors unveils the Sion. It’s an electrical automotive lined with photovoltaic panels, just like the Lightyear 0 or the Aptera. It must be offered round 25,000 euros.
Photo voltaic vehicles have been on the rise these days. We had the prospect to take the wheel of the Lightyear 0 a number of weeks in the past and the American firm Aptera Motors is getting ready the arrival of its photo voltaic automotive. The 2 electrical vehicles will now must depend on a brand new competitor: the Sion from the German producer Sono Motors.
A photo voltaic automotive?
The corporate has certainly lifted the veil on the collection design of its Sion. Like its two rivals, it’s an electrical automotive, geared up with a motor and a lithium-ion battery, however lined with photovoltaic panels. It’s subsequently not strictly talking a photo voltaic automotive, because the power produced by the solar is a “bonus”.
Nonetheless, it’s doable by no means to recharge the automotive, supplied you don’t drive lengthy distances, park your automotive exterior and don’t stay in a rustic the place the solar not often breaks by means of the clouds. Sono Motors thus proclaims a photo voltaic autonomy of 112 to 245 km per week. Figuring out that the 54 kWh LFP battery, weighing 360 kg, makes it doable to supply an estimated vary of 305 km on the WLTP cycle and a consumption of 16 kWh / 100 km as specified within the technical sheet.
Within the graph under, we are able to recognize the photo voltaic autonomy of the car in Munich, in line with the months of the yr and the state of the cloud veil. Thus, we are able to hope to recuperate 245 autonomy in June over per week with a transparent sky in opposition to 21 km in December with an overcast sky.
Relating to charging, if the 456 photo voltaic cells can energy the battery of the automotive, it is usually doable to recharge the latter in a extra standard means. We thus discover a on-board charger with an output of 11 kW and the flexibility to recharge at a most energy of 75 kW on DC terminals with 35 minutes to succeed in 80% relying on the model. That is higher than the 50 kW of the Lightyear 0, however the latter has rather more autonomy.
The Sion has two-way charging (V2D) for connecting an digital system to the automotive. It is uncommon sufficient to be underlined, however the energy then reaches 11 kW in sort 2 or 3.7 kW in basic grip! Evaluate to the three.6 kW of the Kia EV6 or the 9.6 kW of the Ford F-150 Lightning.
A household sedan
Inside, there’s house for a complete household, with 5 seats and a boot capability of 650 litres. The dashboard hosts a 10-inch display screen in addition to a smaller display screen behind the steering wheel which acts as an instrument cluster. The engine, on the entrance axle, with an influence of 120 kW (163 hp) geared up with a torque of 270 Nm, makes it doable to cut back the 0 to 100 km/h in 9 seconds with a most pace of 140 km/h .
The regenerative braking isn’t very highly effective, with solely 50 kW. The Sion is able to towing, however with out Sono Motors revealing the utmost weight.
When it comes to dimension, the size of the automotive reaches 4.47 meters for a width of 1.83 meters and a peak of 1.66 meters. The Sion weighs 1,730 kg and is supplied with quite a few applied sciences. We thus discover a reversing digicam, a reversing radar, LED headlights, 16-inch rims, heated entrance seats and automated parking. The turning radius isn’t wonderful, however common, with a worth of 11 meters.
Value and availability
The Sono Motors Sion can already be reserved from the model’s web site. It is going to be essential to pay a cost of 500 euros. The value of the automotive is 29,900 euros and manufacturing is predicted to start out within the second half of 2023. On hopes that the primary vehicles might be delivered by the tip of subsequent yr. The automotive might be produced in Europe, by Valmet, the identical producer as for the Lightyear 0. Furthermore, the Sono Motors Sion ought to overshadow the long run Lightyear 2, scheduled for 2025.
A photo voltaic bus within the pipes
Sono Motors took the chance to unveil its Photo voltaic Bus Equipment. The target is to have the ability to equip buses, already in circulation (retrofit), which run on diesel. The photovoltaic panels thus positioned on the roof would make it doable to run the auxiliary programs (reminiscent of heating or air con) so as to save as much as 1,500 liters of diesel per yr in line with the corporate, due to peak energy. of 1.4 kW drawn from the solar. Extra particulars might be introduced in September.
We boarded the Lightyear 0 and have been in a position to journey a number of kilometers behind the wheel of this automotive which guarantees mountains and wonders. We provide you with our first impressions.
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