Sono will stay in business after crowdfunding success

[voyager]

MUNICH -- Sono Motors, the German startup working to serially produce a solar-charged electric car, said it has achieved a crowdfunding goal that will let the company stay in business. The sum passed its 50 million-euro ($55 million) goal Saturday, the company said. It had hoped to raise the amount by Jan. 21.

German solar-car startup Sono will stay in business after crowdfunding success

Would you want Tesla to co-invest in startups, like Sono or Lightyear, which are advocating solar cell vehicles? Or do you think that these are doomed? Let me know.

 

[Brando]

Not easy starting a car company. Germany MAY have a few advantages.
Experienced workers looking for new jobs. Retraining - any government support??
ASK Tesla to conduct (and video tape) a few seminars to help Sono Motors. Elon/JB always seem very generous.
Examine the patents from Tesla - they are freely available.
Seriously consider joining the SuperCharger network.
Consider what Tesla parts you might buy. Elon said he would supply, he just won't modify (you must use as is).
Not saying any of this easy. Just saying Sono has a few options to consider and Tesla would/could be helpful.
Some Tesla employees have left Tesla to join or start other companies. Battery factory in Sweden for example.

Investing? No. Tesla needs all of its cash to invest in it's own projects.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Doomed.

 

[martin_k]

They need at least €200m more to reach production, this is to build the first prototypes. Deliveries are to start 2022 if everything goes as planned. The concept car is based on BMW i3 technology and not their own development.
I doubt these startups have anything to give to Tesla, the current state of development is something Tesla can do in a week.
Same thing with Lightyear, a nice concept car but it doesn't seem like the car is fully developed.

 

[voyager]

Perhaps we should try to break down the whole solar car startup issue to its individual parts.

1. Look, Musk also started out small where the auto industry saw no business case in battery drive a decade ago, basically.
I can remember having read that each at $100K retailing roadster costed Tesla 3 times as much to produce.
2. Musk managed to have major OEMs like Daimler, Toyota and Honda invest in Tesla at a very early stage though.
After Tesla' s IPO, the ball started really rolling...
3. Does having solar cells pasted all over the car present enough of a new business case people may want to invest in?

Ad 2. You might say that being situated in Germany should have been enough reason for German car makers to at least want to co-invest in Sono... Evidently, that did not happen... (yet?). Was it Musk' s personal charisma and convincing that did the trick? Or are German car makers already very much into their own EV thing?

 

[Brando]

Electric cars have a long history. (Even steam engines were used.)
This 3 part series reviews the United States of America since the 1960s.

US EV history since 1960s

Europe's history with electrics goes back to the early 1800s.

First Crude Electric Vehicle Is Developed
Around 1832, Robert Anderson develops the first crude electric vehicle, but it isn't until the 1870s or later that electric cars become practical. ... an electric vehicle built by an English inventor in 1884.

Try an internet search. Something like: first electric automobiles
Vehicles are perhaps the most complex consumer product.
enjoy your exploration - we continue to live in very interesting times - if we can just survive our militarism

Good luck and best wishes for Sono. some great ideas

 

[Lasairfion]

I'm glad to see that they're still going. I honestly think that there is a market for these as rechargers, since they can do vehicle to vehicle charging. Since it's a car it carries far more than a simple battery bank on a van could, and you could probably recharge a good quarter of a 'tank' for a Tesla and then have enough to drive yourself to a charger. Plus if somehow you run out of juice yourself, then at least it would eventually recharge itself using the solar; enough to get to a charger.

If you had a small fleet of these, you could charge people (or recovery services) to rescue their electric cars that have run out of juice. Or perhaps the recovery services themselves would get some.

 

[voyager]

Those guys better emigrate to down yonder.
Australia has lost practically all of its car-producing plants over the past 5 years.
Still, what it does have, is plenty of solar energy.