Solar cells on the body should make the e-car Sion a bestseller. However, manufacturer Sono Motors has been fighting for the necessary financing for a long time. A last reservation campaign fails and with it the ambitious project.
The Munich company Sono Motors pulls the plug on its solar car Sion. The program will be discontinued, said Sono Motors. In the future, the company will focus exclusively on the solar business with business customers. Around 300 employees would be laid off, and Thomas Hausch, the manager responsible for operational business, would resign from his job.
"Given the ongoing instability in the financial markets, we were unable to convince investors to invest in a capital-intensive hardware product," said Sono co-founder Laurin Hahn. At the end of January, Sono was still confident of finding investors for the Sion program. A reservation campaign should save the solar car. Of the good 100 million euros, however, commitments were only received for around half. Anyone who has reserved a car should now get their money back, it said. Several installments plus a bonus are planned over the next two years, starting with the first installment in May.
Actually, the cars should be produced on a larger scale from 2024 and come on the market at a unit price of around 30,000 euros. The compact electric car should be able to drive an average of 112 kilometers per week with solar cells on the body and have a range of a good 300 kilometers with additional power from the socket and a battery.
Sono now wants to focus on the business with solar cells for buses, refrigerated trailers or cars from other manufacturers. Discussions with potential investors focused exclusively on this from then on. The Munich-based company works with Mitsubishi Europe and the two Volkswagen subsidiaries Scania and MAN on their solar roofs for buses.
