CNET

Take a Look at the Sono Sion Solar Electric Car That’s Coming to the US

Brian Cooley explains how solar power combines with plug-in charging to create a new kind of solar-grid hybrid that might be exactly what you’re looking for. 0:00 Sono Sion Solar Electric Car 0:48 Solar Panels Equal No Parking Lot Dents 1:38 Battery Capacity, Horsepower, Range 3:04 Why The Solar Sion Solar Car Is For You,…

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Brian Cooley explains how solar power combines with plug-in charging to create a new kind of solar-grid hybrid that might be exactly what you’re looking for.

0:00 Sono Sion Solar Electric Car
0:48 Solar Panels Equal No Parking Lot Dents
1:38 Battery Capacity, Horsepower, Range
3:04 Why The Solar Sion Solar Car Is For You, Family Car
3:53 Car Sharing and Sharing Power
4:51 Sion Price and Powering Your Home, An Affordable EV

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72 Comments

  1. ArmedAngryAtheist

    October 29, 2022 at 3:46 pm

    Solar powered EV’s are the perfect post-apocalypse vehicle.

    • ransom182

      October 29, 2022 at 4:26 pm

      Yes, except who’s going to maintain the road network?

    • David Wilson

      October 29, 2022 at 5:35 pm

      @ransom182 Auntie Entity will do it. lol

    • Seek__ Truth

      October 29, 2022 at 11:35 pm

      @ransom182 the roads are still not fully decayed 😅🤔

  2. Beals Snow

    October 29, 2022 at 3:50 pm

    I love GAS cars

  3. David Mulabi

    October 29, 2022 at 4:46 pm

    The car for tropical Africa with 10 solid hours of good sunshine daily.

    • Michael Vittori

      October 29, 2022 at 6:58 pm

      Florida too.

  4. VinGamer

    October 29, 2022 at 4:49 pm

    Seems cool if it could get more charge on solar, but for now not too bad

  5. FrameW[]rkMusic

    October 29, 2022 at 5:32 pm

    I would buy this in a heartbeat.

  6. Airrion Galloway

    October 29, 2022 at 5:37 pm

    Yooo the Cool man is back, nice to see you MR. Cooley.

  7. Big Wave_Dave

    October 29, 2022 at 5:37 pm

    Sure at $25K, I´m in– they just have to actually deliver and I doubt it´ll be $25K when it gets here. You could barely buy a Nissan Leaf and you couldn´t buy a Chevy Volt for that money so where´s the cost of the solar panels hiding? (assuming it´s not a loss–leader). I love the idea of the Aptera (ultra efficient monocoque construction, solar powered, same target price) but that seems to be well YouTubed vaporware for now and is less practical.

  8. NirvanaFan5000

    October 29, 2022 at 5:38 pm

    love the idea of getting 20% of my fuel for free. can’t wait to see this style improve over time.

    • pxidr

      October 29, 2022 at 6:09 pm

      More effective to actually put PV cells on your roof

    • ben

      October 29, 2022 at 7:12 pm

      CONservatives be like “why should invest in stuff to make it more affordable and better? It just doesn’t make sense!!! We need an oil and gas monopoly like in Russia!!!” Cons somehow don’t realize they are actual commies LOL

    • NirvanaFan5000

      October 29, 2022 at 7:20 pm

      @pxidr : even more effective to do both.

  9. Derrick Benson

    October 29, 2022 at 5:47 pm

    Wow

  10. Serjy A

    October 29, 2022 at 5:50 pm

    Not bad, and a good price.

  11. Harpreet

    October 29, 2022 at 5:59 pm

    Black was great when Ford started 😂 Ford thrived with black Model T!

  12. pxidr

    October 29, 2022 at 6:10 pm

    God that’s ugly… and it will be a lot more effective to put solar panels on your roof.

  13. Dan A

    October 29, 2022 at 6:16 pm

    If anyone really thinks they will realize 5400 miles a year on solar, I have a bridge to sell you. Notice how conspicuously absent was any talk concerning the rate of battery charging exclusively from solar in ideal conditions. If you require further convincing on how impractical this idea is, consider the number of cloudless, clear bright and sunny days in a year any particular region on earth gets. Even by the most generous and optimistic appraisal, this vehicle is implausible. It is more likely that we will see a proliferation of electric cars with compact nuclear reactor generators than a solar powered car.

  14. Kathryn M.

    October 29, 2022 at 6:44 pm

    Don’t mind the concept of solar panels on a vehicle but I’d rather have them on just the roof; just don’t like the seeing them on the door area etc. If they redesigned a car for more panels on the roof that would be neat.

    • James Johnson

      October 29, 2022 at 7:44 pm

      The roof seems to be the biggest collector anyway, so I’m right there with you. Hopefully if things like this take off and there’s more demand for it, the technology will continue to improve to where just having them on the roof will be enough. I’m sure we’ll get there someday! Either way if more EVs did something like that it’d be great for supplemental energy.

    • ᴡʜᴀᴛꜱᴀᴘᴘ ♰𝟏𝟗𝟎𝟗𝟐𝟕𝟕𝟗𝟏𝟑𝟕

      October 30, 2022 at 1:10 am

      ʜɪᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴜᴘ! ⬆️.

  15. Vince M

    October 29, 2022 at 6:46 pm

    Wow this is amazing. I actually don’t mind the design and color. I want one now. I love the solar panels and here in Cali there’s an abundance of sun. The mileage is decent. $25 grand is a good price!! Let’s hope this sells

  16. James Johnson

    October 29, 2022 at 7:50 pm

    $25k, for real? That would be amazing, though I’ll believe it when I see it. As few miles as I put on a vehicle in a year, even in the PNW if I were to park it outside I’d probably never have to charge. Or do the ride share thing and potentially make money off it (though then I’d surely have to charge).

    Either way I hope products like this become more predominant and helps drive the improvement of solar panels (or makes them cheaper)!

  17. Joe-n-Tex

    October 29, 2022 at 8:00 pm

    Never have I seen anyone operate a miter saw from the back side. That’s an ignorant commercial director for ya. But I like the car and CNET.

  18. Ou8y2k2

    October 29, 2022 at 8:16 pm

    5400/365.26 = 14.78 mi/day of solar range in NorCal. If the panels can be _user-replaced_ with more efficient ones in the future, that’d be ideal. Price this competitively with the Aptera, and I’ll consider it given the hybrid work reality we live in.

  19. Cross

    October 29, 2022 at 8:21 pm

    first of all unless ur living in the valley of death where its super sunny 24/7. even then it still wont be enough to give u anywhere near enough charge to get u not to plug in. also do u know how freaking dirty cars get? ur gonna need to wash ur car soo much just to keep those solar panels clean. give me this technology on a mobile home would make way more sense. a gasoline powered mobile home. the solar power tech will help charge up the batteries to keep stuff like the fridge and other stuff u need for off the grid camping or living.

  20. Tim Kuiken

    October 29, 2022 at 8:38 pm

    Love it! I will only buy an electric car if solar is available. This is the future of cars!

  21. MS TK

    October 29, 2022 at 8:41 pm

    I need a 6-7 passenger. 😊

  22. CubanHitman21

    October 29, 2022 at 10:46 pm

    This would be cool in the walking dead universe cause you can power some basic appliances and use it to get resources all from the sun

  23. Homolone . . .

    October 29, 2022 at 11:48 pm

    If I had this car I’d only have to charge it if I was going on a road trip… That’s it. Incredible.

  24. Nicolas Dujarrier

    October 29, 2022 at 11:52 pm

    In theory, I like the idea of solar panels on a car and built-in car sharing system but, unfortunately, in practice, at the moment I am higly skeptical for several reasons :
    1. Dirt, shadow, indoor parking,… will likely drastically lower the real average of solar energy the car really harvest on a full year
    2. Reliability of a car-sharing car needs to be very high, and in France, in Paris, the Bluecar didn’t end well due to user damages that incur higher cost. IMO, the only way to have a chance to make users more accountable is to have an audio-video recording system with AI, that monitor damages and automatically charge the user if needed.

    • ᴡʜᴀᴛꜱᴀᴘᴘ ♰𝟏𝟗𝟎𝟗𝟐𝟕𝟕𝟗𝟏𝟑𝟕

      October 30, 2022 at 1:09 am

      ʜɪᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴜᴘ! ⬆️

  25. CRAZYCR1T1C

    October 30, 2022 at 12:03 am

    So ugly it’s cool

    • ᴡʜᴀᴛꜱᴀᴘᴘ ♰𝟏𝟗𝟎𝟗𝟐𝟕𝟕𝟗𝟏𝟑𝟕

      October 30, 2022 at 1:14 am

      ʜɪᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴜᴘ!! ⬆️.

  26. Brian Evans

    October 30, 2022 at 1:34 am

    So it’s a short range vehicle?

    • ClayBro ᴡʜᴀᴛꜱᴀᴘᴘ ♰𝟏𝟗𝟎𝟗𝟐𝟕𝟕𝟗𝟏𝟑𝟕

      October 30, 2022 at 1:59 am

      ʜɪᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴜᴘ!! ⬆️.

    • R Mo

      October 30, 2022 at 3:54 am

      190 miles is decent range for an electric car. The average commute to work is about 40 miles to and from work. Thats 4 days without having to plug it in on a normal ev. If it charges about 12 miles (instead of the 20 it says in SoCal) then you’ll get that 5th day no problem. The price is the most interesting part, if they can ship it at $25k.

    • Brian Evans

      October 30, 2022 at 3:36 pm

      @R Mo that’s not good for me. My job alone is a 100+ miles from my home. Some travel are 130 miles from one town to town here in Nc. If I drive up north from where I live that’s like 400 miles. So it wouldn’t work for me.

    • R Mo

      October 30, 2022 at 3:46 pm

      @Brian Evans yeah a traditional ICE vehicle or a hybrid is your best bet for now. I think they were aiming for an average use case for a suburban driver.

    • Brian Evans

      October 30, 2022 at 4:29 pm

      @R Mo got it. That car is just for short commutes like doing errands.

  27. Boomerino Kripperino

    October 30, 2022 at 2:02 am

    The only question remains: *Is ugly included at no extra cost?* 😂

    • Bluepeter62

      October 30, 2022 at 11:21 am

      Yesss, ugly but practical. It is the IKEA bag, not the GUCCI bag.

  28. 144Donn

    October 30, 2022 at 2:35 am

    Sign me up! I would drive that car!

  29. euroclyde

    October 30, 2022 at 3:37 am

    The most innovative part of this car is they didn’t put the charge port on a back corner.

  30. Charlie P

    October 30, 2022 at 4:09 am

    am i the only the only one who think this looks ugly, i don’t think i’m being harsh. it really looks like one of those fake cars for low budget tv shows, where they just get a car and cover it in foam panels, black spray paint and add some cheep LED’s and call it a futuristic car. It’s a shame because the interior tech and ui looks good and the app and connectivity looks promising and the overall tech for the solar panels it cool. so i don’t understand why they didn’t put a little more effort into the design, even if they had a low budget, there are a ton of off the shelf parts that they could use for the the exterior and even make it a slightly more streamline design wouldn’t have taken so much money. This seems like they just slapped some solar panels onto car and called it a day.

    • MechmanGetrieb

      October 30, 2022 at 8:31 am

      Well I don’t think it looks ugly.
      I actually think it looks quiet good. Compared with other mini vans.
      In other words
      I have yet to find a mini van that has a really good look.

  31. Dylan Keller

    October 30, 2022 at 4:44 am

    Very cool.

  32. Sad Scientist999

    October 30, 2022 at 5:18 am

    25 grand? That’s a really good price for an EV

  33. Brobi V2

    October 30, 2022 at 5:31 am

    Electric cars suck

  34. Thalhath Abdulsaleem

    October 30, 2022 at 5:44 am

    India best product selling market place

  35. Suzette Calleja

    October 30, 2022 at 6:37 am

    Another luxury car to go grocery shopping.

    • MechmanGetrieb

      October 30, 2022 at 8:25 am

      What’s luxury on the Sion?
      It’s a bare bone car with only the necessary things on it. You can’t even choose extras. And for 25000. It’s not priced luxury as well.

  36. Sun Power

    October 30, 2022 at 7:05 am

    Charging with light 🔆 just makes sense 👍

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  37. Lorenzo Cirilo

    October 30, 2022 at 8:10 am

    Looks like trash tbh compared to other ev players

  38. Super terrific

    October 30, 2022 at 9:03 am

    Imagine parking this thing in the ghetto 😂 whole panels will be gone in 5 minutes 😅

  39. Super terrific

    October 30, 2022 at 9:04 am

    Love it! It would be cool if you could run your house electricity of the car battery, good idea actually. Awesome price!

  40. Shawkat Rahman

    October 30, 2022 at 12:50 pm

    That Henry ford one liner was awesome… loved it

  41. allen myers

    October 30, 2022 at 1:52 pm

    Looks like it won’t need waxing. But I wonder what dirt and grime to the efficiency of the solar panels.

  42. Sergio Messina

    October 30, 2022 at 3:03 pm

    Every journey has a starting point and that’s what is this, solar has to significantly progress beyond its best efficiency (approximately 24%) to make this technology actually work. But 10 years ago renewables were a joke and coal and natural gas were king of the hill. Let’s see what happens as time progresses…

  43. physics77guy

    October 31, 2022 at 1:01 am

    use IR solar cells then it doesnt need to me in direct sunlight

  44. Andrew

    October 31, 2022 at 3:35 am

    This would be an amazing concept for fleet vehicles where efficiency is key… and while performance/looks aren’t

    • Mark Plott

      October 31, 2022 at 3:54 am

      TESLA Robotaxi is $18,000 and BETTER economy to SCALE.

  45. Billy Fyre

    October 31, 2022 at 7:21 am

    Sono Motors did a similar tour around Europe 2017 promising the car in 2019. Still no Sion. There won’t be a Sion if Sono won’t get half a billion dollars. Look at their SEC filings from a few weeks ago. They need 125 million to survive this year, 125 more to reach start of production. 100 more to produce the cars that have been reserved at a bargain price with deposit. 100 more for Valmet for tools to produce the car in volume. Sono is valued at 120 million by the shareholders.
    Their solar calculations are pure phantasy. The solar array on their last prototype just had an anemic yield.

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  46. David George

    October 31, 2022 at 8:57 am

    Now I’m conflicted, Aptera or Sono Sion? What do you all vote for?

  47. S 8

    October 31, 2022 at 2:33 pm

    Those body panels can’t be cheap to mass produce.

  48. MaddogUSMC

    October 31, 2022 at 5:14 pm

    I have a Aptera Reservation but with the LiFePO4 battery in this one as opposed to the NMC and the ability to use the power from the battery AND have 4 doors I might have Just Changed my Mind……🧐

  49. AmerBoyo

    October 31, 2022 at 10:34 pm

    For me, this is a perfect Honda Fit/Jazz replacement; basic, affordable, practical, dependable. What more could you ask for! Well done Sono, watch out Honda!

  50. prilep5

    October 31, 2022 at 11:28 pm

    Finally ECOCAR

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