Sono Motors finally presents the final version of the Sion. This electric car lined with solar panels will go into production.
Five years. This is the time it took Sono Motors to develop the Sion, an electric and solar car. The first prototype of the compact minivan was indeed born in July 2017.
The following year, this project initiated in 2016 materialized with the first pre-orders. The business model for Sion’s development was crowdfunding, and those pre-orders were crucial.
At the beginning of last year, the start-up had presented a pre-production prototype, closer to the final version. But it took a lot of fundraising, as well as bringing in partners, to get to the very latest iteration.
This final model retains the lines of the latest prototype, and in particular the rims chosen by the public. The optics feature a new design, as does the grille. The charging hatch is located in this one.
The same autonomy thanks to photovoltaic cells
The design is a little more fluid, and the rear has evolved significantly. The interior has received some updates but retains the organic look that Sono Motors is looking for. The body of the Sion still offers as many solar panels.
They are found on the doors, fenders, hood, trunk and roof of the electric vehicle. In total, the vehicle carries 456 photovoltaic half-cells. Sono Motors’ goal is to increase the Sion’s range by 112 kilometers per week, on average.
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The 54 kWh battery already offers a range of 305 km in the WLTP cycle, and the extension of the range could reach 245 km per week. Charging, meanwhile, is done at 75 kW in DC thanks to the CCS socket, or in 11 kW in slow charging.
Sono Motors is currently producing the copies used to homologate the car, in particular for crash tests. After all the validations, the vehicle will enter production, normally in the second half of 2023.
Sono Motors has received 19,000 reservations for the Sion, resulting in a deposit of 2,225 euros. The final price of the Sion should be around 25,000 euros. In total, Sono wants to produce 257,000 Sions in the space of seven years.
