The German solar car start-up Sono Motors ostensibly created a good mood just now after the EU Commission had granted a further 1.4 million euros in funding. But now it’s over: the people of Munich are literally pulling the plug on their solar car project Sion.
This was announced by Sono Motors on Friday. Around 300 employees are being laid off, and Thomas Hausch, the manager responsible for operations, is resigning from his job. “In view of the ongoing instability on the financial markets, we were unable to convince investors to invest in a capital-intensive hardware product,” said Sono co-founder Laurin Hahn. Investors should get their money back By the end of January, Sono had shown himself confident of finding investors for the Sion program. A reservation campaign should save the solar car. Of the good 100 million euros, however, commitments were only received for around half. Anyone who has reserved a car should now get their money back, it said. Several installments plus a bonus are planned over the next two years, starting with the first installment in May. Actually, the cars should be produced on a larger scale from 2024. The Sion should come onto the market at a price of around 30,000 euros and produce at least part of the necessary electricity from its own solar cells. Sono now wants to focus on the business with solar cells for buses , refrigerated trailers or cars from other manufacturers. Discussions with potential investors focused exclusively on this from then on. The Munich-based company works with Mitsubishi Europe and the two Volkswagen subsidiaries Scania and MAN on their solar roofs for buses.
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