At the end of January, the Dutch start-up Lightyear, creator of the solar car of the same name, found itself in turmoil after a Dutch court declared the insolvency of Atlas Technologies, the operating company responsible for the production of the Lightyear 0 This is a subsidiary of the parent company Atlas Technologies Holding, official owner of the intellectual property rights of the Lightyear.
This bad news followed the cessation of mass production of the Lightyear 0, the first solar car manufactured under contract – at the rate of a single unit per week – by the Finnish Valmet Automotive. As a result, a unique Lightyear 0 was produced.
Today, Lightyear wants to relaunch in order to produce a more affordable Lightyear 2 (around €40,000) than the €250,000 requested for the Lightyear 0. The start-up has announced that it has generated enough money (8 million euros) to create a new company dedicated solely to this vehicle.
To enable the creation of this new company, Lightyear has pledged the intellectual property rights of the start-up, held by Atlas Technologies Holding. Problem, said rights have already been pledged to Invest-NL, a consortium of investors who nevertheless want “Lightyear can continue its mission”, said Rinke Zonneveld, CEO of Invest-NL. The latter believes “to the potential of Lightyear technology” and wish “making Lightyear a success”.
If all the planets seem to align for Lightyear to continue his adventure, we still have to wait for the decision of the judicial administrator. To prove that his project is viable, Lightyear will always be able to show him the various orders from companies and individuals concerning the Lightyear 2: 10,000 reservations from the lessor Arval, 5,000 from the leasing company LeasePlan, to which are added 40,000 pre-orders from individuals.
This second Lightyear, produced jointly with Koenigsegg, a Swedish manufacturer specializing in hypersports, is not expected before 2024-2025.