Helmond, October 29th, 2019
Lightyear validates the unprecedented design performance of the spacious 5-seater EV Lightyear One with an impressive low energy consumption. According to Lightyear, this achievement is only possible by starting the design of the car from scratch with a completely new architecture. The company is committed to its vision of making EV mobility scalable through the grid-independent solar car, and therefore, to keep on delivering optimal performance that matters most for EV drivers.
In only 2,5 year, the innovative Dutch tech company built its first prototype: Lightyear One, based on its legacy as four-time ‘World Solar Challenge’ Champions. With only months since the prototype’s unveiling, the company has been fully dedicated to the validation of the optimal design performance of Lightyear One; and keeping its energy consumption at lowest is of paramount importance. Lightyear owes its world championship title to the ability of predicting the car’s energy consumption extremely accurate.
World record
Recently, Lightyear’s engineering team has performed the first series of validation for the aerodynamic performance of Lightyear One. During a week of testing in a windtunnel facility in Turin, the Lightyear team was able to validate their simulation models and confirm a drag coefficient (Cd) below 0.20. This means a newly established record in aerodynamics for Lightyear One. The exact number will be made public when the car is fully developed. With the results as they stand, Lightyear One will likely be the most aerodynamic car available in the market.
Unprecedented design performance
With these tests, Lightyear is thrilled to see their calculations validated and excited to reach unprecedented design performance. Optimal aerodynamics are a key factor to achieve an outstanding low energy-consumption for a vehicle that combines the passenger capacity of a 5-seater and the trunk capacity of an SUV. To achieve the most optimal aerodynamics within these requirements Lightyear started designing from scratch with an innovative mindset, not attached to existing conventions. Lightyear’s CEO, Lex Hoefsloot, says: “This significant improvement is only possible because we re-designed the car as we know it, radically starting from scratch and focussing on EV performance metrics that matter most for EV drivers: ample range and fast-charging speeds”.
Lightyear: the future of EV is grid-independent
Lightyear’s vision is radical too; the company is committed to making electric driving accessible on a large scale; with a grid-independent car, a solar car. For Lightyear, grid-independent means convention-independent. Through its commitment, Lightyear clearly chooses for a strategy that differentiates itself from the current EV manufacturers, that focus on conventional metrics such as acceleration and achieve it through larger battery packs.
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About Lightyear
Lightyear is on a mission to make clean mobility available to everyone, everywhere in the world. Lightyear develops electric cars with an energy-efficient design and integrated solar panels. This allows motorists, depending on the climate, to drive up to twenty thousand kilometres per year on sunlight. The fast-growing company was founded in 2016 and currently employs more than one hundred and fifty employees. The team is made up out of a mix of young talent and experience from the automotive industry, including former employees of Tesla and Ferrari. In less than two years, the company raised funding of more than twenty million euros through reservations, investments and grants. Lightyear also won the CES Climate Change Innovator award and became a finalist in the Postcode Lottery’s Green Challenge. Lightyear recently received the Horizon 2020 grant from the European Commission under grant agreement number 848620. In the summer of 2019, Lightyear launched its first driving prototype, Lightyear One and opened a new office.
www.lightyear.one
