{"id":30905,"date":"2022-09-07T00:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T04:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=30905"},"modified":"2022-09-07T00:04:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T04:04:00","slug":"lightyear-new-investment-80-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=30905","title":{"rendered":"Lightyear Secures $80M Investment As It Prepares For Solar EV Production"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lightyear, the solar electric vehicle startup from the Netherlands, has just announced that it has secured an additional \u20ac81- \/ $80.2-million in capital from a consortium comprised of the province of North Brabant and several other regional development agencies, as well as Invest-NL, an investment company based in Amsterdam. The money will help Lightyear stay on track to begin production of its first model this year and also continue development of its upcoming affordable second model.<\/p>\n<p>Lex Hoefsloot, CEO and co-founder of Lightyear welcomes the investment saying<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"13\">\n<p>In the current market environment, our technology has incredible potential for positive societal influence, so I see investments of this caliber as a testament to Lightyear\u2019s product vision. Thanks to the support of Invest-NL, the entire consortium, and our other investors and strategic partners, Lightyear is well positioned and remains on track to deliver the world\u2019s first solar car and work towards a more sustainable future.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>First will come the \u20ac250,000 \/$247,000 <a href=\"https:\/\/insideevs.com\/news\/594375\/lightyear-zero-first-look\/\" data-inline-widget=\"internal-links\" data-type-id=\"0\" data-params=\"%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22594375%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%22lightyear-zero-first-look%22%7D\">Lightyear 0<\/a> (formerly known as <a href=\"https:\/\/insideevs.com\/news\/519248\/lightyear-one-range-test-441miles\/\" data-inline-widget=\"internal-links\" data-type-id=\"0\" data-params=\"%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22519248%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%22lightyear-one-range-test-441miles%22%7D\">the Lightyear 1<\/a>), which is an expensive, long-range solar EV slated to go into production in November. The company isn\u2019t planning on an especially high-volume production this year &#8211; under 1,000 cars, but it wants to build a lot more of its next model.<\/p>\n<section class=\"relatedContent-new trinity-skip-it\" contenteditable=\"false\" draggable=\"true\" data-widget=\"related-content\" data-widget-size=\"content\" data-params=\"%7B%22type_id%22%3A0%2C%22title_id%22%3A%22%22%2C%22items%22%3A%5B%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22601061%22%2C%22title%22%3A%22Lightyear%20Welcomes%20Koenigsegg%20Investment%2C%20Tech%20Partnership%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%22lightyear-welcomes-koenigsegg-investment-tech-sharing-partnership%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22is_video%22%3A%220%22%2C%22images%22%3A%7B%22s5%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.motor1.com%2Fimages%2Fmgl%2F9mmbv0%2Fs5%2Flightyear-and-koenigsegg-announce-tech-partnership.jpg%22%7D%7D%2C%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22591347%22%2C%22title%22%3A%22Lightyear%200%20Production%20Solar%20EV%20Unveiled%20As%20Improved%20Lightyear%20One%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%22lightyear-0-production-solar-ev-unveiled-as-improved-lightyear-one%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22is_video%22%3A%221%22%2C%22images%22%3A%7B%22s5%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.motor1.com%2Fimages%2Fmgl%2FnAAMwE%2Fs5%2F2023-lightyear-0-exterior-front-three-quarter-view-studio.jpg%22%7D%7D%5D%7D\">   <\/section>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/insideevs.com\/news\/555076\/lightyear-two-solar-ev-2025\/\" data-inline-widget=\"internal-links\" data-type-id=\"0\" data-params=\"%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22555076%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%22lightyear-two-solar-ev-2025%22%7D\">The Lightyear 2 is the company\u2019s second model<\/a>, a solar electric vehicle currently in development, which is expected to go into production sometime in 2025 costing a lot less than the first model, from \u20ac30,000 \/$29,720. Lightyear says it already has over 10,000 reservations for this new model.<\/p>\n<p>However, by the time the Lightyear 2 hits the market three years from now, Europeans will already have an affordable solar EV, <a href=\"https:\/\/insideevs.com\/news\/600518\/sono-motors-sion-solar-ev-production-revealed\/\" data-inline-widget=\"internal-links\" data-type-id=\"0\" data-params=\"%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22600518%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%22sono-motors-sion-solar-ev-production-revealed%22%7D\">the Sono Sion<\/a>, a vehicle that doesn\u2019t just have solar panels in the roof, but also its hood, doors and even its quarter panels and fenders. It is expected to go into production in the second half of 2023 and it will be manufactured by Valmet in Finland (the company that <a href=\"https:\/\/insideevs.com\/news\/521510\/lightyear-one-built-by-valmet\/\" data-inline-widget=\"internal-links\" data-type-id=\"0\" data-params=\"%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22521510%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%22lightyear-one-built-by-valmet%22%7D\">will also build the Lightyear 0<\/a>).<\/p>\n<section class=\"trinity-skip-it\" contenteditable=\"false\" draggable=\"true\" data-widget=\"video\" data-url-params=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sizer\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAJCAYAAAA7KqwyAAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAABpJREFUeNpi\/P\/\/PwMlgImBQjBqwLAwACDAAOVfAw9\/ZDvcAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC\" alt=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p><iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" title=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"560\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Jxhd-YsmgAk\" data-src-param=\"\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lightyear, the solar electric vehicle startup from the Netherlands, has just announced that it has secured an additional \u20ac81- \/ $80.2-million in capital from a consortium comprised of the province of North Brabant and several other regional development agencies, as well as Invest-NL, an investment company based in Amsterdam. The money will help Lightyear stay [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}