Energy Positive

Back in 2011, the Fisker Karma launched with an unexpected and somewhat ill-conceived feature.

The $100,000 EREV sports car included a solar roof wedged in between the windshield and the rear window.

While somewhat innovative and stylish, the panels could only provide an estimated 4–5 miles (6.4–8.0 km) of range per week.

That isn’t a lot of miles.

Also, the panels weren’t even connected to the powertrain battery.

The solar energy collected by the Karma was only used to recharge the 12-volt lead-acid accessory battery.

Cue the sad tuba.

In the years since the Karma launched, solar panels have become a lot more efficient and a lot cheaper.

In 2021, solar cell developers Oxford PV and Fraunhofer ISE successfully developed a full-sized photovoltaic panel with a record efficiency of 25%.

This means that newer generations of solar panels convert one-quarter (25%) of the sunlight hitting their surface into usable electricity.

Back in the early 1970s, solar panels cost around $100 per watt.

By 2024, the cost per watt for panels dropped to somewhere between $2.41 and $3.66, making solar energy more affordable than ever.

Combinations of panel innovations and economies of scale, along with increased demand for cheaper energy, all contributed to the drop in solar costs.

With new materials, thin flexible cells, and reduced costs, it kinda felt like someone might be able to make the idea of a production solar car a reality.

But it’s been a longer road than you might have expected.

In recent years, several start-ups have tried to crack the solar-powered car code.

These experimental vehicles focused on drive efficiency, vehicle weight, aerodynamics, and urban driving needs.

Let’s look at a few examples of these solar vehicles.

The Lightyear One

You’ve probably heard me talk about The Lightyear One before.

The Lightyear One (later, ironically named the Lightyear 0) was a fastback with a large solar roof.

The vehicle's aerodynamics were stated to produce a record-low drag coefficient (similar to that of the Mercedes-Benz VISION EQXX).

The Lightyear company also claimed that the 782 solar cells across the car could add 70 km (43.5 miles) of range per day during an average summer day.

An impressive step up from the Karma.

In January 2023, following financial troubles and the bankruptcy of its manufacturing subsidiary, Lightyear suspended vehicle production.

Fewer than 10 Lightyear Ones ever left the factory.

If I knew of a sadder tuba, I would cue that here.

(ICYMI: I talked about the Lightyear One in this Project Ignition video interview)

The Sono Sion

The Sono Sion was another ambitious solar electric vehicle (SEV) developed by the German start-up Sono Motors.

Designed with polymer body panels seamlessly integrated with solar cells on all sides of the vehicle, it also aimed to generate driving range from sunlight.

However, the Sion car project was cancelled, and the company went into insolvency.

Although a handful of drivable prototypes were built (which made for some great YouTube fodder at the time), not a single production Sono Sion ever hit the road.

What’s sadder than a sad tuba? Only people on Quora know for sure.

The Aptera… um… Aptera

Aptera has been trying to bring its 3-wheeled solar-electric “car” into production for nearly two decades.

You probably get the idea: the Aptera folk claim their car can generate about 40 miles of range per day from its solar array, making it possible that you never need to charge the thing during normal daily driving.

Aptera has also produced a fantastic array of YouTube fodder.

And yet, they have also failed to produce a single production vehicle.

Yet, unlike Fisker, Lightyear, and Sono, Aptera isn’t bankrupt (at the moment).

They did go bankrupt.

Then they came back.

The now-resurrected Aptera unveiled a new “production-intent” solar-powered electric vehicle in 2025, with a little help from the folks at Pininfarina.

There’s still some hope that these odd, hyper-efficient trikes will hit the road.

No one knows when that might happen.

This is just moderately sad. No tuba required.

You can put a deposit down on an Aptera here (if you’re into gambling and stuff).

You might think that there isn’t a lot of room for optimism when it comes to solar-powered cars.

With so many failures and so many insolvencies, what’s the deal?

Can anyone make solar cars a reality?

Deep Orange 17

This past week, a group of graduating Clemson University engineering students unveiled the result of 2 years of work, the Deep Orange 17.

Deep Orange 17 is an “energy-positive” vehicle, meaning it generates more energy than it consumes during a day of normal driving.

The vehicle has more than 1,700 photovoltaic cells integrated into its exterior surfaces, allowing it to continuously replenish the vehicle’s battery by harvesting energy while parked and in motion.

This prototype vehicle is a real marvel of engineering. If the technologies wrapped into Deep Orange 17 can be scaled into production, the costs associated with fueling your vehicle could literally evaporate. It could be an affordability unlock that’s a complete game-changer for global energy consumption.

Deep Orange 17 is scheduled to be featured at the 2027 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

A lot of folk have tried and failed to make solar electric vehicles a thing.

Some of the trade-offs required in the design of the vehicles they’ve built don’t exactly make them compelling daily drivers to average car buyers.

With the advent of higher-efficiency solar cells and other technological improvements, such as structural batteries, AI-driven material science, and supercharged battery chemistry that supports ultra-fast charging, the dream of a solar-powered car could emerge from the dark side of the moon any day now.

You’ll likely never drive a Deep Orange 17, but the fact that a bunch of university kids could build it proves that one day, energy-positive driving will be possible.

And when that day comes, we can say goodbye to range anxiety as well as gas stations with a vigour that lets us never give a shit about the Strait of Hormuz again.

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