Lightyear One Brags On Becoming The Most Efficient Electric Vehicle
One of the myriad of new electric vehicles in development that will be coming to market in Europe and other locations in the future is the Lightyear One. Last month, Lightyear took its latest Validation Prototype to a test track in Germany. At the track, the company achieved what it calls a significant milestone for the vehicle by driving over 440 miles on a single battery charge.
According to Lightyear, 440 miles (710 kilometers) is the longest distance an electric vehicle has ever driven on 60 kWh of electricity. During the test, the vehicle drove at a speed of 85 km/h for almost 9 hours straight on a single charge. The company says the most efficient electric cars on the market today consume around 50 percent more energy than the One at a similar speed.
The completion of its first validation test is a significant step for Lightyear and the industry overall. The company says that by lowering the energy consumption per milder kilometer for an EV, owners get long driving distances on relatively small batteries. Smaller batteries are crucial for the electric vehicle market because they reduce cost and weight. The battery packs tend to be the most expensive components in an electric vehicle.
Lightyear believes that its technology will usher in a new era of more affordable electric cars that still feature significant driving ranges. Lightyear says during the validation tests, the results surpassed its expectations for such an early run and provided data on how the model can be improved further. During the testing, the automaker was able to measure the yield of the solar panels along with the energy consumption of the cooling system.
Improving the vehicle is the first step in reaching its goals, according to the company. While the testing was only completed last month, the company is already planning to conduct other tests, including crash tests and performing the official WLTP driving cycle test. Lightyear plans a run of 946 Lightyear One models to go into production in the first half of 2022.