Sono Motors' New Solar-Powered EV Gets $200,000 Crowdfund Support; Sion To Launch In 2018

Sep 08, 2016 05:59 AM EDT | Sovan Mandal

Tags Sonos, Munich, EV, solar, Sion

Making electric cars suddenly seems to be the hip thing to do. Tesla has already done that to near perfection and Munich-based start-up Sono Motors wishes to be the next in line.

The company's first offering is going to be the Sion EV which the company plans to take to the production phase now that it has managed to raise over $200,000 via an Indiegogo campaign, Motor1 reported. Precisely, the company raised €192,000 which far exceeds the initial target of €150,000.

That should be good news for its initial backers with the production of the six-seater vehicle slated to kick off in 2017 with deliveries in North America and Europe slated for 2018.

As for the car itself, it might be a bit odd shaped but it is priced extremely competitively. To be available in two trim options, the 'Urban' trim is priced $13,000 and has a range of 75 miles on a single charge. Next up is the 'Extender' version which will last a bit longer at 155 miles before requiring a recharge.

The price apart, another positive quality of the Scion electric vehicles is that it does not need setting up of a separate charging mechanism to charge the cars. Instead, a regular domestic power outlet would be enough.

That is not all as the Sion also have solar panels all over - the roof, hood, door panels - which the company says will be able to add another 18 miles to the range.

However, if the above-mentioned price seems too good to be true, note that it does not include the cost of the vehicle's battery, either in leasing or buying terms. The company also did not reveal what the battery size will be or how long it will take to charge fully, a key buying consideration with pure electric vehicles.

On the inside, there will be enough space to seat six comfortably. Besides this, there will be a 10-inch central display panel that will also hook up with the user's smartphone via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. There will be an option for trailer hitch as well.

Test drives will begin next year with prospective buyers having the option of full day test drives as well, AutoBlog stated. Then there is also the option of paying €500 of refundable deposit or pre-order for €2,000 to avail of a special 5 percent discount.

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