Meet Lightyear, the company that says its solar electric car will charge itself

Could Lightyear, a Dutch company that has yet to build a single production car, be poised to steal some serious thunder away from Tesla? Time will tell, with Lightyear currently projecting next summer for the prototype launch of the Lightyear One, the company’s first production model, with the first delivered vehicles “expected to drive on Dutch roads in 2020.”

Based on data that autopopulates based on user location in a calculator on the Lightyear website, the company projects that a driver in Central Pennsylvania would be able to rely on sunlight for more than half of the vehicle’s power needs in a year of operation—with only 20 charges needed compared to the 54 charges that, according to the calculator, the Tesla P100D would require.

So when can you buy a Lightyear One?

Currently, the company is taking reservations on their website with availability limited to the European market, at the price of 119,000 Euros. Paying the full price up front gets you in line for one of the first 100 Lightyear One models produced. A 19,000-Euro deposit gets you into the #101–#500 position in line, and the deposit is 4,000 Euros for position #500 on.

For those Europeans who would rather try shacking up with a solar car for a few years before making a permanent commitment, leasing will also be an option, for corporate fleets as well as individual consumers. Yesterday, Lightyear announced a deal with an outfit called LeasePlan Netherlands. According to Lightyear’s press release, the arrangement with LeasePlan “makes the car directly accessible to a broader corporate target group.”

“Lightyear shows that it is possible to drive electrically on solar power. As a leasing partner we want to offer our customers the opportunity to make a powerful sustainability statement by driving the world’s first solar car for consumers,” said LeasePlan Netherlands Managing Director Erik Henstra. “This cooperation also contributes to our ambition to completely eliminate emissions from our own fleet in 2021 and our total fleet of 1.8 million cars in 2030.”

“With LeasePlan we have a strong partner on board that strengthens us with a solid network in the Netherlands and Europe,” said Lightyear CEO Lex Hoefsloot. “Corporate drivers play an important pioneering role in the introduction of new technologies. We’ve seen that before with the electric car. This partnership with LeasePlan will certainly help us as we move towards the broad launch of the Lightyear One in 2021.”