Behold: the Lightyear One – a partially solar powered electric vehicle and therefore one further step toward true ‘zero-emission’ technology.

The car tops up its power via solar panels on the roof and bonnet but the main energy source is still (largely fossil fuel generated) plug-in charging. The range is 750km with potential to go further depending on the solar cells.

An initial production run  of 500 (currently accepting advance orders) is due for delivery in 2021.

Yours for around €120,000.

uncrate

Sponsored Link

18 thoughts on “Hot Wheels

  1. Janet, I ate my avatar

    how are you meant to slide the odd hand onto a knee with that yoke between the seats

    1. eoin

      There’ll be none of that hanky panky in the future as babies are the #1 cause of climate change, we can all agree on that. But would you want to drive that contraption anyway, it looks so flimsy that a push-bike could probably rearend and concertina it.

      1. Janet, I ate my avatar

        I hate to break it to you Eoin but some folks do the hanky panky Bambino free :)

      2. bob_the _builder

        And apparently in 2030 anything with a fossil fuel engine will not be allowed on the road according to Leo
        So if you buy one when you try to sell it on it will be a worthless dinosaur
        And judging on our weather this year solar panel cars are going to be as useful here as a buggy whip

  2. DeeDee

    Is the whole climate crisis or global warming thing or ozone layer disaster or whatever they’re calling it just a big shill to get us to buy new cars and ‘greener’ products?
    Surely if we really wanted to stop what we are being lead to believe is an irreversible and rapidly inimitable catastrophe we would simply halt all manufacture of new cars and lorries, trains etc. and simply maintain and repair what we have. Invest gigantic capital into the conversion of existing petrol & diesel engines to a sustainable non polluting fuel. But it’s not really about finding solutions to the problems we have, saving the planet for our children and us all living in an fantastic electric dream future. Rather it’s about stimulating the global economy with faux righteous consumerism.

    1. edalicious

      “Is the whole climate crisis or global warming thing or ozone layer disaster or whatever they’re calling it just a big shill to get us to buy new cars and ‘greener’ products?”

      No.

      The average lifetime of a car is about 10 years so most cars will be replaced before the 2030 cut off that a lot of people are talking about phasing out new ICE car sales.

      Instead of retrofitting all existing motor vehicles to use a fuel that still requires mining/growing/electrolysing and then transporting to the end user, why not take the opportunity to change the system from the ground up to use a “fuel” that is generated and transported using existing power generation and transmission networks AND doesn’t require a massive supply chain change as better/more efficient/cleaner power generation methods come online?

      It’s a no brainer, you’re basically making the same investment in changing over fuel type and you’re future-proofing yourself so that power generation improvements that happen in the future will improve efficiency across the whole system straight away rather than having to wait for people to upgrade each individual vehicle.

    2. pedeyw

      The Ozone layer problem is a very separate issue to climate change. Global Warming was renamed Climate Change because even though there is an overall global average temperature increase, it may not effect all regions in the same way. For instance Ireland (and Europe in general) has a temperate climate largely due to the north Atlantic current which could weaken due to climate change, and have a cooling afffect on Ireland.
      It would be lovely to believe that this whole thing was a swizz to buy new cars and ‘greener’ products though. It would certainly ease the existential dread.

      1. Man On Fire

        How is it separate?

        Why isn’t there any meaningful action being taken to deal with the main polluters such as the agri industry or the military?

    3. bob_the _builder

      Totally agree
      Also 950000 batteries wail have to be disposed of if the number of these cars are to start driving on the roads and that’s for starters
      These batteries highly toxic last 8 years
      And the cost of replacement?
      And if no fossil fuelled cars are permitted on the roads as per announcement post 2030 we can treble that number

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie