Dutch solar EV startup Lightyear has said its restructuring strategy is to focus on the manufacturing of a more affordable model.
Less than two months after its official start of production, the company suspended all assembly of its flagship 0 Solar EV, while focusing on its second model Lightyear 2.
In a press release, the company disclosed that it had overcome many challenges in order to make its latest model 2 vehicles a reality.
The company’s CEO and Co-Founder Lex Hoefsloot said in a statement, “we are now redirecting all our energy towards building Lightyear 2 to make it available to clients on schedule”.
The Lightyear 2 model is the company’s volume model that has been announced for some time. Investors King understands that the startup opened the waiting list for Model 2 earlier this year, which is to be launched at the end of 2025 at a base price of €40,000.
Reports disclose that he company has already received a potential major order for the lightyear 2, its waitlist which opened on January 5 to customers in the U.S and Europe, and has already surpassed 40,009 individual names, complimented by another 20,000 pre-orders from fleet customers.
As with many startups, the company made some claims about its upcoming Lightyear model 2 which it disclosed that compared with other EVs not powered by solar, the model 2 will produce half as much carbon emissions.
Judging from the teasers provided at this year’s CES 2023, there were notable differences in the Lightyear model 2 compared to model 0. The Model 2 appears to have higher ground clearance and sleeker blacked-out pillars on the additional black accents on the body.
As with Lightyear 0, Lightyear 2 will require less charging from the grid compared to a conventional EV. Meanwhile, it is currently unclear what Lightyear plans to do with the few 0 solar EVs that have been produced since Quarter 4 last year.
