Sono Motors hopeful of getting needed funding for solar car programme

• German solar mobility firm Sono Motors, subsidiary of Sono Group NV (NASDAQ: SEV), on Tuesday said it has secured over EUR 40 million (USD 43m) in consumer commitments in the recentlies as part of its ongoing #savesion campaign focused on rescuing its Sion solar car project.

"This assistance is making it possible that Sono Motors achieves its target of concerning EUR 100 million gross in new or boosted booking deposits, investments, or various other sources of funding within the next few weeks," the firm says.

According to president and founder Laurin Hahn, the new bookings are a strong signal to financiers. Hahn said business remains in talks with potential capitalists and expressed self-confidence it will reach the target as well as wage the Sion programme.

Sono Motors currently has 44,000 bookings for its solar electrical vehicle, including regarding 21,000 personal reservations with deposit, about 22,000 non-binding business-to-business pre-orders and also more than 1,000 new exclusive reservations with deposit commitment throughout the #savesion campaign. More than 8,000 individuals have actually taken part in the campaign by making a new booking or enhancing their deposit.

The company is on the other hand continuing its screening and also series-validation programme of the vehicle, with pre-series manufacturing as a result of begin in the summer.

The Sion is currently undertaking durability screening in Spain at the Applus IDIADA test track.

Added testing includes a real-life test of the solar charging capability in December, which showed a calculated 28 kilometres (17.4 miles) of pure solar array weekly, indicating the car has achieved 80% of the anticipated winter months solar yield a year ahead of planned manufacturing, according to the statement. Sono Motors said this confirms the potential for an average solar series of 5,800 km a year in Europe.