01
Origins
Dutch startup Lightyear, born from Eindhoven's solar-race champions, delivered the 0 in 2022: a teardrop-profiled saloon with five square metres of solar cells feeding an ultra-efficient drivetrain — consumption around 10 kWh per 100 km, granting up to 70 daily kilometres from sunlight alone and 600-plus total range from a modest battery. The physics were genuine and genuinely admirable; the 250,000-euro price met reality's wall within months, and production ceased in early 2023 after fewer than a dozen cars as the company pivoted toward the cheaper Lightyear 2 before insolvency proceedings. The 0 remains the solar-car idea's most complete production expression — a proof that efficiency-first design worked, and that markets forgive nothing, least of all being early.
Lightyear one Fully Charged Europe 2022 7 · Jan Ainali · CC BY-SA 4.0
