German electric vehicle start-up Sono Motors says it has secured more than 20,000 reservations for the Sion.
The unique solar electric vehicle will hit the production line in the second half of 2023 where contract manufacturer Valmet Automotive will assemble it at its plant in Finland. Sono Motors says that the average downpayment of each of its reservations is around €2,000 ($1,991).
Powering the Sion is a 54 kWh LFP battery pack and while that’s quite small, this EV is special as 456 solar half-cells have been integrated into the bodywork. Sono says these half-cells can add 112-245 km (70-152 miles) of range every week, prompting the company to claim that owners in metropolitan areas across Germany will charge their Sion up to four times less than a conventional EV in the same segment.
Read More: Sono Motors Unveils Production Design Of The Sion, Plus A Solar Kit For Buses
This battery pack sends its juice to a single electric motor producing 161 hp and 199 lb-ft (270 Nm) of torque.
While the automaker intends on kicking off mass production in the second half of 2023, it still has quite a lot of development work to do before this happens, recently noting that its fleet of prototypes will be put through their paces in Europe and the United States. It also needs to complete series validation, homologation, crash tests, safeguarding, perfect the driving dynamics, and optimize the solar technologies before the Sion is ready to reach the hands of customers.
Pricing for the Sono Sion starts at a very reasonable €25,126 ($25,020) and it is hoped that 257,000 units will be built in the first seven years of production.
