To bring its $170,000 ‘solar' electric car to market, Lightyear has received $110 million.

 

Lightyear, an electric solar car startup, has announced a $110 million round of money to support bring its first vehicle to market.

Currently, a lot of money is being raised in the electric vehicle market.

Solar Team Eindhoven, a group of engineering students from the Technical University of Eindhoven (Netherlands) who have been competing in the World Solar Challenge with their Stella and Stella Lux, energy positive solar cars – meaning they can produce more energy than they consume – first caught our attention. 

Solar Team Eindhoven recently launched their new vehicle, which is like a solar RV.

However, while their home mater's new team is working on the current student project, Lightyear has advanced to developing an entire production vehicle.

They announced the Lightyear One in 2019, an electric vehicle with built-in solar cells that help expand the range to 450 miles (725 km) based on the WLTP cycle.

It's a big project that will demand a large sum of money to bring the car to market.

The business announced today that it had received $110 million:

“With the help of Cooperation DELA, one of the major international insurers in the Netherlands, we were able to reach the $110 million finance milestone. This investment is in agreement with their long-term strategic plan. We can work together to achieve our common goal of providing clean mobility to everyone, everywhere.”

The round of funding included Cooperation DELA, an insurer located in the Netherlands, where Lightyear is also based, and Joop van Caldenborgh, an art collector.

Lightyear's CEO and cofounder, Lex Hoefsloot, had this to say about the news:

“It's exciting to see investors' support, which shows their interest in Lightyear. We can continue to grow as a company thanks to our investors' trust and funding, and launch our Lightyear One exclusive model to market in 2022.”

The company is still on track to delivery its first units in 2022.

The Lightyear One, like most first-generation cars, isn't cheap. The business had earlier stated that the starting price would be €149,000 plus VAT ($170,000 USD).