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Sono Motors
Sono Motors GmbH is a German company working on the development of the electric solar car Sono Sion. A special feature of the vehicle designed by the company is solar cells embedded in the plastic body panels on both the roof and the sides. The electricity generated is fed into the traction battery and is said to be sufficient as an energy source for more than 5,000 kilometers per year. Sono Motors has been licensing this technology for use in buses and trucks since 2021. The company entered insolvency proceedings in 2023.
Sono Motors was founded by Laurin Hahn, Navina Pernsteiner and Jona Christians in Karben, Hesse, in January 2016. Still in its founding year, the company succeeded in securing funding for two functional prototypes by conducting two crowdfunding campaigns: €549.995 by 1.686 backers on the internet platform Indiegogo, and €1.8 million on Seedrs. Both prototypes were developed and built by Roding Automobile GmbH according to Sono's specifications, and were presented to the public in July 2017. During presentation tours through various European countries, interested parties were able to learn about the special features of the car and the mobility concept and take short test drives with the functional prototypes.
In October 2018, Sono Motors raised new equity and debt capital in another financing round on Seedr, surpassing €6 million. At that time, the start of production of the vehicle was announced as having slipped into the fourth quarter of 2019 due to manufacturing issues.
On November 8, 2018, the company was recorded to have 8,586 pre-orders for a car priced at €16,000 (excluding the cost of the battery) that was supposed to be launched in 29 countries during 2019.
In March 2019, the company finally presented the (later modified) series design of the Sion production car, and on April 17, 2019 announced its manufacturer. Sion would be produced by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) at the Trollhättan site in Sweden, a former Saab production facility that was being reactivated there. Over an eight-year period (up until 2028), 260,000 Sono Motors vehicles were expected to roll off the production line.
According to Sono Motors, the company had 10,000 paid reservations for the Sion across Europe as of May 2019, and around 13,000 in January 2020.
On December 1, 2019, the founders of Sono Motors stated that they had not been able to obtain the necessary funds through the "usual financing route". If they had accepted the terms of the potential investors, they would supposedly have had to abandon their own principles and lose the rights to their patents to the investors. The Sion would thus never have reached public roads in the way envisaged. Therefore, the founders returned to the original way of financing, crowdfunding.
Through new reservations with down payments of at least €500, increases in the down payment of orders already placed, donations and letters of intent to grant investment loans, Sono Motors aimed to raise €50 million by December 30, 2019. By the deadline set, only around €32.5 million had been non-bindingly pledged, after which the deadline was extended to January 20, 2020. €53.3 million in pledges were eventually reached.
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Sono Motors
Sono Motors GmbH is a German company working on the development of the electric solar car Sono Sion. A special feature of the vehicle designed by the company is solar cells embedded in the plastic body panels on both the roof and the sides. The electricity generated is fed into the traction battery and is said to be sufficient as an energy source for more than 5,000 kilometers per year. Sono Motors has been licensing this technology for use in buses and trucks since 2021. The company entered insolvency proceedings in 2023.
Sono Motors was founded by Laurin Hahn, Navina Pernsteiner and Jona Christians in Karben, Hesse, in January 2016. Still in its founding year, the company succeeded in securing funding for two functional prototypes by conducting two crowdfunding campaigns: €549.995 by 1.686 backers on the internet platform Indiegogo, and €1.8 million on Seedrs. Both prototypes were developed and built by Roding Automobile GmbH according to Sono's specifications, and were presented to the public in July 2017. During presentation tours through various European countries, interested parties were able to learn about the special features of the car and the mobility concept and take short test drives with the functional prototypes.
In October 2018, Sono Motors raised new equity and debt capital in another financing round on Seedr, surpassing €6 million. At that time, the start of production of the vehicle was announced as having slipped into the fourth quarter of 2019 due to manufacturing issues.
On November 8, 2018, the company was recorded to have 8,586 pre-orders for a car priced at €16,000 (excluding the cost of the battery) that was supposed to be launched in 29 countries during 2019.
In March 2019, the company finally presented the (later modified) series design of the Sion production car, and on April 17, 2019 announced its manufacturer. Sion would be produced by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) at the Trollhättan site in Sweden, a former Saab production facility that was being reactivated there. Over an eight-year period (up until 2028), 260,000 Sono Motors vehicles were expected to roll off the production line.
According to Sono Motors, the company had 10,000 paid reservations for the Sion across Europe as of May 2019, and around 13,000 in January 2020.
On December 1, 2019, the founders of Sono Motors stated that they had not been able to obtain the necessary funds through the "usual financing route". If they had accepted the terms of the potential investors, they would supposedly have had to abandon their own principles and lose the rights to their patents to the investors. The Sion would thus never have reached public roads in the way envisaged. Therefore, the founders returned to the original way of financing, crowdfunding.
Through new reservations with down payments of at least €500, increases in the down payment of orders already placed, donations and letters of intent to grant investment loans, Sono Motors aimed to raise €50 million by December 30, 2019. By the deadline set, only around €32.5 million had been non-bindingly pledged, after which the deadline was extended to January 20, 2020. €53.3 million in pledges were eventually reached.