To infinity and beyond

WELL not quite, but a Dutch company Lightyear has developed an electric car which runs on solar power (SEV) and has a range of around 800 kilometres.

Similar to the growth of Tesla in the USA, they started with a very expensive (cost around €250,000) model and although there was interest, the company eventually declared bankruptcy.

It has however returned with a significant injection of funds and is looking to market a new and much less expensive version, a saloon car, expected to cost in the region of €35,000. It will ini­ tially be looking to predominantly deal with businesses, such as lease companies rather than individuals and has opened a waiting list for the first 40,000 cars to be produced.

For short and medium distances, Lightyear 2 can sustain itself without a socket in sight provided that there is sufficient sunlight to power the car and even on longer journeys, the manufacturers claim that it will recharge at a socket in a third of the time of a normal electric car.

The company suggests that the electrification of vehicles goes hand in hand with positive developments toward an electricity grid powered by green energy but this could take many years to achieve.

This is why they have spent more than six years developing the technology to produce a vehicle powered by solar energy and they claim that their latest model, the Lightyear 2 can drive for months without charging and hold the power to drastically free up the electricity grid.

In addition, because this type of vehicles doesn’t require such a large battery, it is much lighter than the traditional EV car which means that it doesn’t use as much juice when running and of course recharges when parked if left in sunlight.

No doubt other companies will be developing their own range of SEV cars but for the time being at least, Lightyear may well be Europe’s dom­