The Lightyear 0 went into production less than three months ago, but the revolutionary electric vehicle has already reached the end of the road as the company has suspended production to “fully focus” on the more affordable 2.
In a statement, Lightyear said they’re dealing with a number of challenges, and “in order to safeguard our vision, we had to decide to redirect our focus and resources completely towards Lightyear 2.” The company went on to say this decision was not taken lightly, but they believe it’s the best way forward.
The move is surprising and will likely anger customers, who were expecting a high-tech electric vehicle with record-breaking aerodynamics as well as solar panels that could deliver up to 43 miles (70 km) of range per day. The car also came equipped with a five-seat interior, a 60 kWh battery pack, and a powertrain that enabled the model to accelerate from 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) in ten seconds before hitting a top speed of 99 mph (160 km/h).
Lightyear 0
Lightyear CEO Lex Hoefsloot didn’t go into specifics, but said “Unfortunately we had to make this decision.” He added, “The whole process of developing Lightyear 0 has provided our company many valuable learnings over the past years” and “we are now redirecting all our energy towards building Lightyear 2, in order to make it available to clients on schedule.”
The Lightyear 2 was originally announced in 2021 and recently teased at CES. It’s being billed as an “affordable mass market model” that will be unveiled later this year and inherit all of the innovations from the Lightyear 0.
The company has previously said the Lightyear 2 will cost less than $40,000 and enable people to travel more than 500 miles (805 km) between charges. Full specifications are slated to be released in the summer of 2023, but production is years away as the company has said the model won’t arrive until the end of 2025.
H/T to MotorTrend
Lightyear 2
