2023-02-24 08:00:00
Nobody can deny anything to the founders of Sono Motors. They have fought to achieve their dream of an electric vehicle that draws much of its energy from the sun. But now the makers behind the project are pulling the ripcord and the Sion drives off into the sunset. The ambitious project failed and 300 employees of the start-up lost their jobs.
The story began with an electrified Renault Twingo covered with solar panels that rolled out of a garage in 2016. After that, things went steeply uphill with the company, including presentations at the CES in Las Vegas, the first crowdfunding campaigns, the listing on the New York Nasdaq stock exchange and the supposed production site in the former Saab factory in Gothenburg. A contract was later signed with the Finnish company Valmet as a contract manufacturer. The start of production was originally planned for 2019. But a few months ago, those responsible had to inform their supporters that the financial resources were not sufficient to develop the Sion for production.
“We didn’t manage to collect enough money and explain to investors why the world needs the Sion and that there is a great demand for it,” explained Sono founders Laurin Hahn and Jona Christians at the time. In order to realize the ambitious plan, another 3,500 customers should be found by the end of January, who should transfer a reduced price of 27,000 euros to the company in advance for their Sion in order to collect the missing millions. Obviously this last campaign failed. Since 2016, Sono Motors has raised more than €330 million from its supporters and reached more than 45,000 reservations and pre-orders.
As reasons for the failure, Sono cites “various circumstances, not all of which were within our sphere of influence, such as the Covid 19 pandemic”. Additionally, “given the ongoing instability in financial markets, we were unable to persuade investors to invest in a capital-intensive hardware product.” Finally, according to the statement, there were also no government subsidies. In the end, the company also admits its own mistakes. “We underestimated how difficult it is to raise the necessary funds.”
Sono Motors has already drawn up a repayment plan for the reservations that have already been paid for, which provides for installment payments including a bonus for the next two years. The first installment is to be paid in May.
In the future, Sono-Motors wants to focus on solar technology and, according to the announcement, “retrofit vehicles from third-party suppliers”. According to their own statements, 23 companies are already using the solar solutions from the Munich company, including Ari Motors, for example. (cen/Walther Wuttke)
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