It ended up being an emotional roller coaster ride. The ambitious solar car project Sion (named for Vision) launched in Munich (Germany) in 2016 by Jona Christians (28) and Laurin Hahn (28) is getting more and more out of control financially. Founded eight years ago and listed on the stock market for two years, Sono Motors has burned over €100 million in the last year alone.
Sono Motors, which now employs 420 people, urgently needs new capital to move the project forward as planned, start the pre-series now and get the finished solar vehicle Sion on the roads in 2024. At the end of 2022, the two co-founders and general managers addressed their communities in a dramatic video message: “The last chance for our solar-powered car, the Sion, is for 3,500 customers to pay upfront for the discounted purchase price of 25,000 euros.” Young entrepreneurs from Munich have set a deadline for their latest capital increase until the end of February 2023.
50 million euros was not enough
Just a month ago, we met co-general manager Jona Christians in Zurich. The former student of computer science and experimental physics looked infectiously confident again. To our skeptical question about whether Zion would one day be real, the Christians replied: “We are on the right track, and we now have more than 44,000 reservations for our Zion.” He said that with the latest call, nearly 1500 new advance commitments were added and thanks to the last campaign, approximately 50 million Euros were collected by the end of January. This was not the required 100 million, but Christians were optimistic a month ago, apparently as there were contacts with new investors. “With the funds raised so far, we can close the financing gap up to the pre-series.”
But things turned out differently. Last Friday, four days before his own deadline, the vision ended. The two young entrepreneurs must admit that their solar car project Sion has failed. In an unusually callous message, they announce the end of their “heart projects Sion”. In their letter, they say Sono Motors plans to restructure its business model and focus specifically on adapting and integrating solar technology into third-party vehicles. At the same time, the Sion program will be suspended with immediate effect. Jona Christians explains: “Despite more than 45,000 reservations and pre-orders for Sion, we have had to react to the ongoing instability in the financial markets and streamline our business. This decision has not been easy for us.”
There is a repayment plan
What’s next – what about all those who have already raised money for the Sion solar car through various crowdfunding programs? Sono Motors said the company has a refund plan for Sion reservations that were paid before the last campaign launched in December 2022. This provides repayment plus a bonus in several installments over the next two years, starting with the first installment in May 2023. , Sono Motors will not move.”
Sono Motors now wants to sell the Sion project. The same is true for some of the many patents. Other patents will be used for its core core business, the B2B solar business (solar solutions consisting of hardware, power electronics and software for multiple vehicles). Sono Motors needs to take significant austerity measures as approximately 90 percent of its financing requirements for 2023 originate from the Sion program and the project is also resource-intensive. In simple language, this means that around 300 employees will be laid off.
“Unfortunately, our vision of the first affordable solar-powered electric car has failed,” admit Jona Christians and Laurin Hahn. “Nevertheless, we and our company will continue to pursue our vision of a world without fossil fuels – even with the new focus,” but they have already become belligerent again.
Source: Blick
I’m Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.
