02/28/2023
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
Sono Motors has discontinued the program for its solar car Sion and wants to focus on the solar business with third-party suppliers in the future.
The Sono Group will no longer launch its own electric vehicle. But electric mobility is still to play a key role in the Munich-based start-up's business model.
In the future, the company will focus exclusively on retrofitting and integrating solar technology into third-party vehicles, according to a company statement dated February 24, 2023. At the same time, the Sion program has been discontinued "with immediate effect." This decision was due to the "poor conditions on the capital market," it said. Sono Group will accordingly focus on a less capital-intensive business model, the statement added. In the current year, the Sion program alone accounted for around 90 percent of the company's total financing needs,
Focus on retrofitting solar technology in vehicles
"Even though we had to discontinue our original heart project with the Sion program, the shift in our overall focus to B2B solar solutions offers us the opportunity to continue developing innovative products in the solar industry," says Laurin Hahn. "Despite more than 45,000 reservations and pre-orders for the Sion, we were forced to respond to the ongoing instability in the financial markets and downsize our business," said the co-founder and CEO of Sono Motors.
The intention is to sell the vehicle program, along with tools and other assets, to other companies, according to the company's website. The measures now planned to streamline the business will include the layoff of about 300 employees. "This decision has also been extremely difficult for us, as we are incredibly grateful for their hard work and dedication," it adds.
The company says its solar solutions are currently being tested in cars, buses, refrigerated vehicles and RVs by 23 partners in Europe, Asia and the United States. In addition to manufacturers, potential customers include fleet operators. The product range includes both hardware components and software. The launch of the next generation of the "Solar Bus Kit" is planned for the second quarter of 2023. This is a retrofit solution for buses in local public transport.
In January of this year, Sono Motors said it had secured €1.46 million in funding from the European Executive Agency for Climate, Infrastructure and the Environment to drive forward the development of its proprietary solar technology. At the same time, the company said the number of patents filed and granted stands at 52, of which 42 relate to solar technology.
Sono Motors was founded in 2016 and was able to take the Sion program to the development and production of 18 production validation vehicles. Officials say this was proof that the concept of a solar electric vehicle works. The successful crash tests were then "the crowning glory of it all," according to the website.
Rescue program launched in December failed
It was only at the end of January this year that Sonor Motors had declared that it had more than 44,000 reservations for the Sion. Of those, 21,000 were private reservations with a down payment. The recent campaign to save the e-car program, which aimed to raise €50 million, had added another 1,500 private reservations since its launch on December 8, 2022. Non-binding B2B pre-orders totaled 22,000. "These reservations and pre-orders represent a potential net sales volume of approximately €1 billion, assuming that all reservations result in a purchase," a press release said at the time.
Now the company has announced a payback plan. For reservations made before Dec. 8, 2022, there will be a repayment in several installments plus a bonus over the next two years starting in May 2023, it said. He said Sonor Motors would not collect the amounts pledged by purchasers as part of the rescue campaign.
Author: Fritz Wilhelm
Accessibility
Language