The pricey Lightyear 0 EV can go months without charging thanks to solar power

Not everyone lives close to an abundance of electric vehicle chargers, but what if you just needed the sun to power a car?

That’s not exactly what’s happening with the new Lightyear 0 EV, but it’s close enough. Lightyear, a Dutch startup founded in 2016, announced production of its first prototype car by the end of the year. At $263,000 USD for one of the 946 planned units at launch, you’ll have to pony up some cash and hope you get lucky just to get one. But if you do, you’ll have a sleek, futuristic-looking EV that can get roughly 44 miles of range out of solar power alone.

Ideally you'd get more sun than that. Credit: Lightyear

That’s just a small portion of the 388 total estimated miles of range the Lightyear 0 can produce, but the company says someone could theoretically drive one of these cars for months without going to a charging station, as long as they live in the right environment with lots of sun. It’s only got a top speed of about 100mph, so you won’t be scooting down the freeway in this bad boy, but at least you can feel good about yourself for driving a car with an interior made from 100 percent vegan materials.

Lightyear 0 isn’t the only solar-powered EV we’ve seen over the years, but it’s still a rarity in the EV space. The Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX concept from CES earlier this year, for example, has solar panels on the roof, but they only add 15 miles to its range. Lightyear definitely has Mercedes-Benz beat on that front.

Of course, the car has to actually make it onto people’s driveways first. We’ll know more about how legit the Lightyear 0 is by the end of the year.