Lightyear, a solar-powered electric vehicle maker, has announced that it will cease production of its flagship Lightyear 0. This is a premium EV with a sticker price of €250,000. Lightyear, which only started producing vehicles three months ago, is restructuring to focus on building a more affordable model, the around €40,000 Lightyear 2, Electrek reports. I’m here.
The news comes at a time when many electric vehicle manufacturers are postponing production and delivery dates due to a variety of macroeconomic factors, including semiconductor shortages, battery supply problems and rising material costs due to inflation. I was. At the same time, with recession fears looming over consumers and EV startups struggling to get off the car assembly line, it makes little business sense to put money into very expensive models. there is not.
The Lightyear 0 has always been intended as a technology demonstrator that will be produced in limited quantities. In a press release, Lightyear said it had to overcome “many challenges” to bring the vehicle to life. The company didn’t specify what the challenges were, but said it needed to allow Lightyear 0 to die and Lightyear 2 to thrive in order to protect its vision.
Lightyear CEO and co-founder Lex Hoefsloot said in a statement:
Lightyear opened the waiting list at CES earlier this month for the Lightyear 2, a five-passenger hatchback that promises 500 miles of range on a single charge. The company hasn’t shared many vehicle details, but the Lightyear 2 already has more than 40,000 reservations from private buyers, including international leasing and car-sharing companies Leaseplan, MyWheels, Arval and Athlon. fleet owners have about 20,000 pre-orders. A company spokesperson told TechCrunch.
The Lightyear 2 is expected to enter mass production at the end of 2025. It’s not clear if the company will accelerate its production date, as it won’t be making the Lightyear 0. -Sold 150 units. Earlier this month, a Lightyear spokesperson told TechCrunch that his first Lightyear 0 was in production and shown to the company’s first customers. The company said it has been building one car per week since November and plans to increase weekly production later this year.
Lightyear didn’t have time to comment on TechCrunch about a production date for the 2 or whether sales of the 0 would work.
However, Lightyear said in a press release that it had filed a request “asking the court to initiate a suspension of payment proceedings in connection with Atlas Technologies BV, our operating company responsible for manufacturing the Lightyear 0.” The company did not specify which court it filed its suspension request with, but according to the Dutch Business Authority, companies can ask for their debts to be frozen for 18 months, giving them time to restructure. You can
Lightyear will try to raise more money to survive. The company raised $81 million in September as it geared up to start production of the Lightyear 0, but Hoefsloot said it was looking to scale up the car for a wider audience. We hope to complete several significant investments in the coming weeks.”
