The EV startup's slippery but expensive sedan is a testbed for a future crossover due in 2025.
- Dutch EV startup Lightyear secures $80 million in funding as Lightyear 0 approaches the start of production.
- Lightyear 0 is expected to offer an average consumption of 141 Watt-hours per kilometer at 130 km/h (80.7 mph), which is about 4.4 miles/kWh.
- The wind-cheating sedan is expected to arrive with a price tag of $265,000, making it a pricey testbed for a crossover the company plans to put into production in 2025.
Dutch EV startup Lightyear is about to begin production of its long-awaited sedan, engineered to take advantage of every last joule thanks to a very aerodynamic profile and solar body panels meant to deliver an extra kick. You may remember its prototype with the name Lightyear One from last winter, but as it heads into production the startup has renamed it Lightyear 0.
The company has just revealed it has raised €81 million, or $80 million, as it approaches the start of assembly, which will be performed by Valmet Automotive.
“These latest funds will ensure we keep momentum as we progress toward the production of Lightyear 0 later this year,” the company said this week.
The innovative sedan features a relative small battery—just 60 kWh—but is designed to return an average consumption of 141 Watt-hours per kilometer at 130 km/h (80.7 mph), which is about 4.4 miles/kWh. This would give the sedan a range of 400 kilometers (248.5 miles) at that speed, which is well above what other EVs with batteries of this size can achieve, according to Lightyear. After all, 80 mph is not exactly the traditional sweet spot of EV efficiency.
It is also expected to be far more expensive than other EVs with a battery pack of its size, with a price tag of $265,000. The automaker plans to build just under a thousand examples, intended to be more of a technology demonstrator than anything else.
But its next planned EV, the Lightyear 2 compact crossover that will use many of the same technologies, is expected to be more of a mass-produced model.
The sedan is scheduled to enter production this fall.
Lightyear
“With development milestones on the horizon for Lightyear 2, the investments will also support work to accelerate access to clean mobility, backing pivotal next steps toward international expansion beyond Europe,” the company added this week.
Of course, a price of over a quarter million dollars for a low-volume sedan sounds like something from the year 2012 rather than 2022, and gives EV skeptics reason to roll their eyes. For starters, the company has to survive three more years to have a chance at putting Lightyear 2 into production, all while battery technology is changing.
By 2025, the number of EVs on the market could very well be double what it is today, and battery tech could also catch up to the level of efficiency that Lightyear promises, all without new tech or excessive reliance on aerodynamics.
As we saw recently with Mercedes’ similarly shaped EQXX small sedan, 747 miles on a single charge with a 100-kWh battery is very possible in real world conditions. And Mercedes isn’t the only automaker working on hyper-efficient EVs.
One piece of promising news for Lightyear’s ambitions is that it plans a €30,000 target price for the Lightyear 2, or just under $30,000, and boasts 10,000 reservations split up among car-sharing and leasing companies MyWheels and LeasePlan. So at least it has customers lined up for that model, even if in the somewhat distant future.
“In the current market environment, our technology has incredible potential for positive societal influence, so I see investments of this caliber as a testament to Lightyear’s product vision,” said Lex Hoefsloot, CEO and co-founder of Lightyear.
At the moment it is doubtful a 60-kWh sedan with a $265,000 price tag will appear on our shores, but Lightyear’s approach to efficiency perhaps raises a closely related question: Will Mercedes or another large automaker have a production sedan capable of running 700 miles between recharges by 2025, using the aerodynamic tech and lightweight materials, and without relying on solar tech at all?
Jay Ramey Jay Ramey grew up around very strange European cars, and instead of seeking out something reliable and comfortable for his own personal use he has been drawn to the more adventurous side of the dependability spectrum.
Keyword: Lightyear 0 Nears Production, but Who Is It For?