Lightyear One solar powered electric car - exclusive first look | Fully Charged

Introducing the Lightyear One

Hello and welcome to Fully Charged. Now we do get to go to some amazing places to see incredible new cars, bikes, inventions, renewable energy stuff... generally we're in kind of big industrial estates or disused airfields or on the city street and it's really busy today we've come somewhere slightly more salubrious. What we're seeing here is very exciting I think. This is a startup company in the Netherlands they're called Lightyear and they're just about to start testing the very first time it will ever be driving under its own power: the Lightyear car. It is absolutely extraordinary it's a luxury saloon car it is partially solar powered as you can see that the roof and the bonnet everything is covered in amazingly efficient solar panels in it what they've gone for is energy efficiency this is a hyper efficient luxury saloon car the first model that they're making. They are an extraordinary company, people from all over the world... people who've worked at JLR, Porsche, Tesla.... loads of nationalities which is a help for us because they all speak English to each other. It's absolutely amazing what they're doing and they're just about to start driving it. Oooh! I'm quite excited!

Company Background

So Lex, I want to start with what I understand the legacy of what you've created here. Solar team Eindhoven that took part in the Darwin to Adelaide solar car race many times... Yeah definitely ... and kept winning it. Yeah that was the starting point... six/seven years ago we basically built the first four seater solar car And there had been a lot of solar cars right, but only for one person. Basically looking at the raw physics and seeing what technology is out there to use, we realized that it was possible so we did that. We participated in the competition in Australia and drove 3,000 kilometers from Darwin to Adelaide and we actually managed to not only finish... That's the most important thing! ...but actually win the World Solar Challenge 2013. And from that, things started rolling. So the challenge is basically a big playground to experience the technologies and all kinds of parameters. I think it's important to point out that you when you won that you were winning against little known companies like Honda... Haha! ...who probably got some funding!

Legacy from Solar Team Eindhoven

So Tessie this is a very exciting moment I think they're about to move... Can you tell us what the interest is from the public is there so some people they haven't seen this car but they know what you're doing they've seen the mock-up yeah yeah yeah and we get quite some interest but indeed it's it's easier if you have something to show ya but Rick taking into account that we weren't able to show that much I think we've gained a lot of interest also a lot of questions because of course people have doubts will to be a battery in it will it work at night all this stuff so we have a lot of explaining to do but yeah considering all this I am quite surprised and very happy to see that we have over a hundred pre reservations already which for a completely new car with a lot of new technology in it is it's a big risk for people in a sense for the customers because they don't know no one knows no one knows yeah so they even make a pretty big down payment as well right so you see the trust and people it's really high probably also has to do with the World Solar Challenge and yes being and people really see this as the next step of electric field goals so they really want to see this happening yeah some people buy the car but I don't care about the car they want to support our mission yes which is great

Public Interest and Early Reservations

Core Principles and Design

so can you give us the sort of rudimentary background to this it's quite big yeah so the DNA of the company is it's quite different from a lot of other companies we really we realized that kind of efficiency is magical all right the efficiency helps in so many ways not only to reduce energy consumption then also use small batteries you you can get more from a normal bar Osaka at the in terms of kilometers so efficiency was what's kind of our starting point right and then looking at how efficient can we actually build a car all right that is also comfortable and safe I'm really being able to start with the blank piece of paper we have been super important to do this so we basically get to about half of the energy consumption of a similar car in the same class Wow Wow really you've got you've got it down that much

Efficiency as the DNA

so is the idea then that you don't need is like a the the equivalent size car at the moment would be a Tesla Model S or somewhere out there yeah which has a big battery pack can you effectively go the same distance they can but with a smaller battery I mean you can't yeah yeah we're definitely so we have a very bag that is like 2/3 or what if that's more or less average Lee asked all right we can drive more than that same ol s all right there will be up to 800 kilometers if you come with the Sun and without the Sun actually so the minimum range you will get is 400 so in winter with air conditioning and everything you everything switched on yeah you'll still and high speed driving though still gets before I love the interior materials yeah it's nice right yes the honeycomb stuff is great I think it's and I like the fact that it's sealed off I think that's really interesting I think so that you any heat in the cabin you're not heating them reason why we did it and the second reason why we did that is because the this is lower in weight right because you don't need to lock the the bench in on the sides right you can you can lock it in the into the door yeah and therefore you you actually save a couple of kilograms I think so what's your have you got a rearview center rear view we've got a rear view here right we're now working on on testing whether you can put your lender there's something we think and definitely consider yeah

Range and Interior Features

so tell me about how it ended up looking like that because it could just be in a box on wheels yeah yeah you can't cover stuff yeah right yeah so when we started like two and a half years ago we were just from from the solar team right but we got a lot of reaction so we brought the car to over the world to China to Australia to Europe America as well but people liked the concept but the design is not as like a car should be so car should really give confidence the first time you look at it so that was very important for us we knew we had the technology but we needed to combine it with like to get to make a car out of it so what we did was partnered with a design firm in in Torino and headed by Lowe we finish so he's known for all the work that he has been doing of course and together with with legs I sat down to really shape the concept and to think of how should a solar car actually look like and what we found was that it's a very aerodynamic concept of course but it's also a concept that the breeze freedom so the freedom expect aspect should be really in there I think that combination makes it very nice nice balance yeah it's a very nice contrast

Aerodynamic Design Philosophy

so you're going for in wheel motors rather than the central and the thing I've heard and this shirt this will show my level of engineering understanding is the anxiety I've spoken to automotive engineers about unsprung weight yeah in the wheels that you know if those are very heavy and is that I mean I'm assuming that's yeah yeah taking into account and so you have to look at it very carefully when you design the guard to be using England motors then you can integrate the the suspension very well with the motor and the rim right to reduce weight yeah at at the same time if you look at the tire size those kind of things also very much influenced the unsprung weight and now we're at the point it actually it's it's just a marginally more happy than what you would get arm alright and as well the people that made the reservation they feel like there's telling this or story to all their friends but they sort of missing something which is the evidence yeah and right now yeah we are delivering the evidence that we can really build this car and I think it's beautifully designed car so that's one of the promises we did we made and yeah now it's time to show

In-Wheel Motors and Engineering

The Road Ahead: Development and Testing

so that low Rumble we're hearing now that is that that is the motive that's not yeah attendee the thing that I did speak to an engineer about it was how annoying electric cars are for bodybuilders and them and the people who deal with the sound in in combustion cars because you can't hear any creaks in the combustion character you're hearing the engine and they said as soon as you drive an electric car you hear every tiny little squeak and creak I think one and a half year ago we started with with us telling how is surely car works because they don't know Wow so this is all happened in a year and a half yeah and only a year ago we had like the first phone model right so the a year ago we only knew how the car sort of like might look might look yeah and from then and like this final result the final prototype is only four months so imagine the speeds we were able to get it and and the nice thing to add to that as well is that the mock-up was quite in line with with with the prototype you see here yeah so it means that we really know what we're doing right because it doesn't change that much over time so probably the first verification models also will stay more or less the same because it's well it works out is very well there's so many things as soon as I think about what you have to test you know when you'd start doing longer drives and it and the testing you've got to do there's a lot of and there's so many components in a car is no that's the thing they had they're complicated machines yeah but also things are all the silly things right so the lights here and the speaker system the windows yeah the screens here I know we made a decision in January to sort of change the planning a bit in order to be able to show the car before the summer holidays instead of after that so that put a lot of pressure on it and it's amazing what they've got companies also considering all the suppliers that were very flexible that helped us out it's really it's it's amazing what they did and you have only half a year yeah I'd like one and a half months ago we had nothing physical yet not too much at least and now there's Wow

Rapid Prototyping and Development Speed

this isn't the first time you've been in is electoral is it no actually it is no it's so exciting I mean I've never been more excited to go in a car really slowly it doesn't mean like two years of everything coming together yeah it's looking at millimeters everywhere and and seeing more much of this on the screens yeah it's really being enjoying this in real life is really amazing and but of course I think this this is just the first step right yeah next steps are going to build I'm going to winter test summer tests a lot more prototypes presumably at some point you do have to do a crash test to do you I mean you've got to basically kill a car yeah which is just a harp I think yeah we love to do that because it's for science right yeah so from these curse tests we will get a lot of information yeah to to improve the chassis improved but also calibrate the airbags yeah and it's I think the most fascinating thing for me is that you kind of get that with some proper engineering you can get the same kind of comfort and but a completely different shape around the car and therefore really improving the yard and that makes the energy consumption that you kind of have the same feeling sitting in this car but still having about how the energy consumption of them of a similar car Ryan yeah so what we did in the interior is moving a lot of the component you would normally have close to the to the occupant space we moved it to the front right and if we have a lot of room in the interior itself okay here on the Neath you can put the chemists size back if you wanted yeah it's quite large now you've got so much space the back is it sort of like ultra luxury car you know fit space in the back it's brilliant

Testing Phases and Crash Safety

and so that is the long-term idea then I mean this is the sort of the initial model is high-end it's luxurious that's quite the plan is that you would then go smaller lighter cheaper yeah yeah so we're really developing this technology and this is the first step to bring it to market yeah and then also the price becomes a bit higher but the moment you have this technology and you you can really optimize them bring it also up to skill yeah you can drop down and that's really the dream we're having right because a solar car will work best where no infrastructure exists yeah the cheapest form of energy will come from the places that are nearest to where you use it yeah because then you don't have to pay for the infrastructure tween so if you have solar cells on your roof we use it for your car yes because use for your house house then if you have solar cells on top for your car itself then it's probably the cheapest source you can get yes there can't be a cheaper way of charging a car can those do so all there although it might not cover your full energy consumption it's still the cheapest and most convenient way to get anything to grow it's fascinating listening to the various sound but their way they're they're really minor I just want to you know just in case the mic isn't picking this up but there are some tiny little tiny River preaching in it but the reason you can hear that miss because the car is so smooth and quiet that you get to hear all sorts of other weird things thank you yeah it's going on it's all there it's also like that you're going to a year as well yes are you being your builder I know what's out and I think it's but I'm amazed that actually but effective there it's really quite good so this is on I like the fact this is on 10% of its potential how are they the motors yeah it isn't there's a lot of torque in order yeah and of course also the big advantage is that you can borrow them independently yeah therefore have a lot of grip and being able to control that in milliseconds and so it will actually do quite good hills and good off-roading yeah we're still gentle now we're at ten percent right yeah but there's a lot of potential in the motors and in about Jack is there a sort of kilowatt capacity of the solar panels if they're in direct Sun I mean what's their peak yeah it's about one point two five right and that means that so we will charge between ten and twelve kilometers per hour right that's quite nice it's like that is the same as a 13 amp plug the same as a domestic plug that's about that range that's about 50 to 70 kilometres a day and so they'll be added up to well this is that's a sunny - sunny but yeah and it will add to up to about 10,000 kilometers per year in the Netherlands and in good conditions right and at least 8,000 and they're learning in California or Australia or something like that they can go up to 20,000 hours actually per year and it's a lot more than we thought we will be able to right but is you know technology is progressing so the idea is that you can do with the two energy sources you have anywhere on earth Russia that's normal power sockets and the Sun exactly and you can drive formal kilometers birthday using just power sockets because chickens and in a night you can charge for a clock one right but of course if you if you if there's false chargers you can use them so it had it does have that you could plug of course is it CCS you could plug that into it yeah the philosophy is that you should be able to use any energy source and to drive by yeah

Long-Term Vision and Solar Charging

Conclusion: A Revolutionary Step Forward

but I mean it's amazing what you've done I'm really thrilled and with I'm very excited to come and see future developments well you know when you get to the next level and what or when the first customer has their come up very exciting moment so the light year car is about to go back to the amazing workshop where they built it they they're clearly really excited about this this is a no I think I think a really interesting breakthrough car it'll be fascinating to see how fast they can actually start producing them they've still got a lot of testing to do the good cold weather testing hot weather testing crash testing all that stuff you know it's not it's not finished by a long way but it's definitely on the path and I think what this team have done is truly remarkable and I guess clearly they can't talk about it there's clearly a lot of interest from a lot of car companies because it does actually what we've done here is see an amazing new revolutionary bit of technology a genuine solar-powered car not a hundred percent solar it doesn't have to be but even if it's 15 20 25 40 percent solar that makes a huge difference if all cars were like that still in its early stages we're not going to see a production vehicle force in probably 18 months two years it's you know it is the beginning of an amazing adventure for that team amazing team really want to thank the whole team at light you know they did a look looked after us very well I want to thank Schenker transit slightly less because they've got big noisy trucks the reason we're here at this fascinated charger right on the border of Belgium and the Netherlands is because we didn't fly here and it's it's incredibly complicated when you don't fly to see an event like that we were with them for a morning we didn't need to be it's taken us three days day to get here overnight film of them day to get back so three days of travel we've done it all an electric car this car has proved itself ridiculously efficient at doing it really genuinely proper long-range we drove all the way from Maidstone if you look on a map from Maidstone to Eindhoven one charge pretty pretty amazing so it's taken us a bit longer time and that's the problem we could have flown to Eindhoven this morning that we could have flown back tonight except we've got a lot of kit the car is absolutely for the kit so it would have been

Lightyear One Technical Specifications

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the Lightyear One car?

A: The Lightyear One is a hyper-efficient luxury saloon car developed by a Dutch startup called Lightyear. It is partially solar-powered, with solar panels covering its roof and bonnet, designed for maximum energy efficiency and extended range.

Q: How far can the Lightyear One travel on a single charge, including solar power?

A: The Lightyear One can achieve a range of up to 800 kilometers in optimal conditions (with sun). Even in winter with air conditioning and high-speed driving, it is designed to still provide a minimum range of 400 kilometers.

Q: What is the charging capability of the Lightyear One's solar panels?

A: The solar panels on the Lightyear One have a peak capacity of about 1.25 kW, allowing them to charge the car at a rate of 10 to 12 kilometers per hour. This translates to an annual solar range of approximately 8,000 to 10,000 kilometers in the Netherlands, and potentially up to 20,000 kilometers per year in sunnier climates like California or Australia.