For 170000 You Can Buy Your Very Own Solar Car
Stay on target Tesla EV Catches Fire After Colliding With Tow Truck in MoscowToyota’s Electric Vehicle Will Transport 2020 Olympic Athletes, Visitors If you’re shopping for an EV right now, you’ve got a lot of great options. One of the newest is the Lightyear One, which stands out for one big reason. It’s solar powered.Most EVs can recharge their cells while driving thanks to features like regenerative breaking, but Lightyear’s massive solar panels take things to a whole new level.They don’t just cover the roof, either. The hood and the trunk are topped with solar cells as well. In total the Lightyear One sports nearly 54 square feet of cells that produce an extra 12km/hr of range. Overall, the company says that the battery and solar array provide up to 800 km (over 450 miles) of range.That’s the top end estimate, naturally. Even in winter with the heat cranked and the defrosters keeping your view clear Lightyear promises at least 400km at highway speed.Lightyear did a number of things to squeeze out as much range as possible. As with any vehicle design, two keys are aerodynamics and weight. The One’s profile helps it slice through the air.(Photo Credit: Lightyear)Its curb weight has been kept down through the use of high-tech materials, and the One’s battery adds less to the total than some of its plug-in competitors. That’s because it doesn’t have to be as large, what with the solar panels recharging it all the time.Being one of the first people one the planet to own the first mainstream solar car doesn’t come cheap. Material costs are high in the early going, notes Lightyear, which pushes the starting cost of the One to around $170,000.(Photo Credit: Lightyear)That’s around $40,000 more than a top-end Tesla Model S. Whether the bump in sticker price is enough to justify the convenience of never having to plug in, never having to pay for power (you can do both in a pinch, the One does have a charging port), and the price of admission to an exclusive club is up to you.So far, Lightyear has racked up 100 pre-orders.Watch: Elon Musk Has Some Advice About Charging Your Tesla BatteryMore on Geek.com:Nissan’s Newest EV Is an Ice Cream TruckWorld’s First Five-Seater Air Taxi Completes Test FlightBehold: The World’s First Fully Electric Classic Ford Bronco