No sunset yet
Sono Motors is having a tough time financially. The company that wants to market a so-called solar car with the Sion needs tens of millions and has launched an entire campaign for this. The deadline for that campaign has passed, but the money was not received. What are you doing then? Precisely. You just give yourself more time.
History seems to be repeating itself and it is hoped for Sion Motors that the earlier tune will now indeed play out for a second time. At the end of 2019, Sono Motors launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the €50 million needed at the time to keep it afloat. Sono Motors was unable to raise the money within the initially set deadline, so it extended the campaign. Successfully! We are now three years later and Sono Motors is again on the hunt for capital. And not to €50 million, but now to €105 million. Once again, Sono Motors launched a fundraising campaign and once again failed to raise enough funds within the deadline. You can feel it coming: Sono Motors is also giving itself extra time now.
Of the €104,650,000 needed, Sono Motors has raised almost €48 million, €5 million more than nine days ago. The deadline for the campaign ended today, but Sono Motors is now giving itself an extra thirty days. Sono Motors is extending its #Savesion campaign through February 28. The company has now received more than 44,000 orders for the ‘solar car’ Sion, of which 21,000 have been ordered by private individuals. During the #Savesion campaign that started on December 8, 1,500 new private individuals signed up for a Sion. Companies have placed 22,000 non-binding pre-orders.
Sono Motors CEO and founder Jona Christians says Sono Motors is not ready to give up and that it is now “up to us to fight for Zion, for the future and for a world without fossil fuels.”
Sono Motors Zion
The Sono Motors Sion is an EV that, like the products of the recently, incidentally partly defunct Lightyear, generates part of its required energy with solar cells. The Sion costs €29,900 and if you order a copy now, you will receive a discount of up to €2,100 from Sono Motors. The hatchback has a 54-kWh battery that provides a range of 305 kilometers. In the most favorable case, the solar cells should add up to 245 kilometers and an average of 112 kilometers of range per week.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl