◼ TECHNOLOGY Bloomberg Businessweek August 3, 202018
THEBOTTOMLINE Pricedatabout$30,000,theboxy,
four-doorSionwillcompetewithVW’snewID.3electricsedan,
butit willbeavailablein onlyonecolor:solar-cellblack.Theircompany,SonoMotors—the name,
Latinfor“sound,”isa riffonhowquietelectric
motorsare—isdevelopinga boxy,four-doorhatch-
backcoveredinsolarpanelsthatarebarelyvisi-
blebutcangenerateenoughelectricitytogive
thecarmorethan 10 milesofrangeaftera few
hoursinthesun.Whenit hitsthemarketinabout
18 months,theSion,asit’scalled,willcomein
onlyonecolor:solar-cellblack.Theprice,Hahn
says,willbe€25,500,makingit competitivewith
VolkswagenAG’sID.3,anelectricsedanthatstarted
sellinginJulyfor€35,000.TheSioncanalsobe
pluggedin,butHahnfiguresthesolarpanelswill
eliminateoneoftheprimaryconcernsdrivershave
aboute-vehicles:rangeanxiety.“Youcanrunthe
carcompletelydry,leaveit onthesideoftheroad,
andit’llrechargeitself,”hesays—evenona cloudy
day(thoughmuchmoreslowly).“TheideathatI
can’tgetstuckis extremelyimportant.”
TheconcepttookrootinHahn’sgaragein2012,
whenheandhisfriendJonaChristiansbought
andguttedanoldRenaultTwingohatchback.The
pairspentmonthsaffixingsolarpanelstotheroof,
doors,andhood.Theyultimatelypushedthecar
outintothesuntosoakupsomerays—andman-
agedtodrivejusta fewmetersata crawl.Hahnand
Christianskeptatit,withdetourstolocaluniver-
sitiestohonetheirtechnicalskills,thoughboth
eventuallydroppedout.Overtimetheymadetheir
Twingostreet-legal,abletoreachspeedsanddis-
tancesthatmightworkformostcommuters.
They brought in a third partner, Navina
Pernsteiner,whowasHahn’sroommateatthetime,
tohandlemarketing,andstarteda crowdfunding
campaignthatyielded€850,000.“Suddenlywe
wereabletobringpeopleonboard,”Hahnsays.
In 2018 theyraised€5millionfromventurecapi-
talfirms,thenstartedlookingforabout 10 times
thattostartproduction.Butthetalksfellthrough
asinvestorssuggestedtheyabandonplanstomake
carsandinsteadlicensetheirtechnology.
HahnandChristiansdidn’tlikethatidea,so
theyagainturnedtocrowdfunding,settinga
goalof€50million,whichtheysoonexceededas
some13,000peopleeachplunkeddownanywhere
from€500tothefullpurchasepricetopreorder
a vehicle.(Thecompanysaysthoseordersaren’t
bindingandcanbecanceledfora fullrefund
beforedeliveriesstart.)Today,Sonohasabout
100 employees—coders, engineers, designers,
and a marketing team. National Electric Vehicle
Sweden AB, the company that emerged from the
bankruptcy of Saab, has signed on to manufacture
the cars, which Hahn says is needed to ensure he
can meet demand.Skeptics say that even with the funding Sono has
in hand, the company will have trouble turning its
idea into a viable business. Matthias Schmidt, an
electric-vehicle analyst in Berlin, says the car might
prove useful for city dwellers who don’t have off-
street parking where they can charge a conven-
tional EV. But as more charging stations spring up,
he says, interest in the idea will likely wane. Markus
Lienkamp, a professor of automotive technology at
the Technical University of Munich, calls Sono “a
nice marketing story and nothing more” and says
he expects it to end up on the scrap heap, like a
host of other e-vehicle startups that have struggled
to compete with industry giants.Hahnsayshedoesn’texpecttohavetrouble
selling cars even as charging infrastructure
expands.Andhesayshe’sfamiliarwithLienkamp,
butSono’sexpertisecanbeseeninthe“numerous”
patent applications the company has filed. “We’ve
invited Professor Lienkamp for a test drive,”
he says.
Hahnacknowledgesthathisfunding,which
pouredinlastfallandwinter,camejustintime
tohelpweathertheworstofthecoronavirus lock-
downs. Most staff members are working remotely,
though a handful have been going to a workshop
where prototypes are being built. The team still
needs to better integrate the unit that controls the
power flow from the solar cells and eliminate hic-
cups in the drive train, which comes from supplier
Continental AG. “We didn’t have to stop produc-
tion,” Hahn says. “We didn’t need to go to the state
for wage support. We’re liquid.” �Oliver Sachgau
● For more on the
future of transportation,
visit bloomberg.com/
hyperdrive.▲ The Sion’s solar
panels are made by
Finnish solar tech
company Valoe Oyj