#22 (EN): Solar Body Panels, Key Fob, SEV comparison
Happy Sunday! Since we have not commented on Mother's Day the other day, we also keep quiet about Father's Day. The main thing is that you are all back and well rested, with or without a bridge day.
+++ SOLAR BODY PANELS +++
The new solar body panels for the Sion have arrived in Munich according to a Twitter Post. A big step forward compared to the last version. On the pictures you can see how well the cells are seamlessly integrated into the outer skin.
If you look very closely at the photos, you can see that the color of the half-cells look very slightly different - as you know from the solar cells on a regular roof. I think that's actually cool. You can see the effect much more clearly on the Lightyear One, which uses much smaller cell elements.
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1526929685237612544/photo/1
+++ SPRINT REPORT +++
The new Sprint report is out. Lots of little highlights, the lowlights have it this time, so we'll start with that. It’s less simulation, and more physical tests. That's why there is a validation phase, to find the last bugs and fix them. Anything that is noticed now is good - because hopefully it can be eliminated.
Delamination risk for first set of SVC3 solar body panels at high temperatures. At high temperatures, something could come off the lamination layer of the first SVC3 body panels. As long as it's just the first ones and it's somehow related to the production ramp-up, I wouldn't care. The way it's worded, that's what it means - the very first ones may have the problem. Goes on the question list.
Define process how the changes in SVC3 (holes, fixation at body structure) will be implemented. Holes are needed in the body structure, for example, so that the sealant can flow everywhere and excess material can flow out again on the production line. Of course you need a process for changes that pop up now.
Investigation of potential design optimizations of body structure for industrialization, cost down program and tolerance concept potentially impact costs and timing. The body structure can or must still be optimized for industrialization, i.e. mass production. In addition, there may be components that can be simplified to save costs and improve production tolerances. The aforementioned "Cost Down Program" should bring costs down rather than up. Since it is labeled as LowLight, "Cost and Timing" still seems to be a challenge. From a feature perspective, “cost down program” always sounds like a lowlight.
Homologation: Lowlights - None. Currently no lowlights on the way to homologation.
Apart from that, there are some highlights:
Highlight Infotainment: First software release by supplier released and currently being validated - This is progress, one of the last reports warned that the software package was still not delivered.
E/E: Key fob housing in progress: The Sion will also get a normal car key, and that needs to go into a housing. The issue is in progress. Certainly not a high priority, but needs to be done. Until 2020, I didn't care about the look of the car key, until I got my Polestar 2, with the ugliest and most impractical "key" of all, and all to come. The lettering on the PS2 is black on black, the pictograms super small - and the key is rectangular, you can't "feel" how around you hold it and lock it "blindly". And to make matters worse, the panic button is right on the other side of the key to lock. You always have to look at it. Sono can only be better here.
HV Battery; Cell tab over temperature caused by supplier HV cables and not cell tab welds. This is good! In the last Sprint report it said that there were too high temperatures of the battery cells. That could be for a variety of reasons, but if it's due to the cables, then that's good news, they can be sized differently.
A couple of questions pop up for us:
"The heated seat strategy needs to be evaluated".
What needs to be evaluated? Is the seat heating system up for discussion? Put some current into the seat - and heat as a result would be nice.
Cybersecurity issue related to the rear camera module (RCM).
A cybersecurity issue with the rear view camera? That shows how complex the topic of cybersecurity is. Could be something for the question list. One "hack" I know of from the early days of e-mobility is to tap into the rearview camera cable and put in a movie so you could watch a movie on the screen during the charging break.Weight management and Recycling have only highlights, nothing in progress and no lowlights either. Have a nice vacation! No hard feelings :-)
That was again only an excerpt with the most important for us, the complete report with 48 pages is here:
https://sonomotors.com/site/assets/files/8067/sono-motors-dev-sprint-review-cw16-22-1.pdf
+++ AUTO SUMMIT +++
Henrik (Head of Sono DIgital) was at the Auto-Summit - we did mention it last time already. Meanwhile the video recording is online: Rethinking Sustainable Mobility - Auto Summit 2022.
From a technical point of view I find minute 9:40 interesting, here you can see that the Sion can also communicate with the cell phone via Bluetooth. I could mean that you can easily enter your car even with your phone in the second basement of a reinforced concrete garage. In addition, 4G and WLAN are available as options.
https://youtu.be/o_jS8_62ogg?t=566
Full video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_jS8_62ogg
At CleanTechnica, the collaboration of Sono with Sibros is also being discussed, at around 10:30 into the podcast:
https://cleantechnica.com/2022/05/24/building-ota-updates-with-sibros-on-cleantech-talk/
+++ SAP HANA +++
You realize that Sono is getting a big company when SAP is mentioned. Sono has been implementing SAP for some time now, meanwhile there are some details on Youtube:
+++ SEEDRS +++
The holding period for shares via Seedrs has expired and there is an intense discussion on the Seedrs platform. Many want to transfer their shares into their own depot. Problem: It is not that easy. The transfer fees of Seedrs are quite steep and especially for small investors they are a problem: in many cases the fees exceed the proceeds in total - you pay more for the transfer than the actual value of the shares. Sono can't do anything about that, but it does raise questions about the Seedrs business model. Only very few companies make it from Seedrs to the stock exchange - and small investors are then clearly at a disadvantage due to the high one-time fees.
The problem was foreseeable, I already raised the issue on camera last year in the Youtube Live after the IPO with Sono. There is a lot of back and forth discussion on Seedrs on different options. You decide.
https://www.seedrs.com/businesses/sono-motors
+++ SEV SHOWDOWN +++
A short Youtube video compares the Aptera, Lightyear One and the Sion - and solar ranges. Result: all three serve completely different markets, the Sion as an everyday car, the Lightyear as an upper-class executive car, and the Aptera as an adventurer's vehicle.
"Passivlife" has done some calculations, and comes up with about ⅓ less solar range than the manufacturers' claims for all three manufacturers - but confirms that solar will work for all three, in his opinion. The Sion - according to his calculation - only gets about half as far with solar as a Lightyear or Aptera, which is due to the "everyday car" format. SEV - Solar Electric Vehicles - are coming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Oyu8Y5cKo
+++ FUN FACT +++
Inventions excite me, and so do great inventors. That's why I'm excited about any progress in solar integration at Sono. But inventing also means thinking about the consequences, as Sono does, for example, with regard to the recyclability of solar integration.
Thomas Midgley serves as a cautionary tale. He discovered on behalf of General Motors that tetraethyl lead ("leaded gasoline") very cheaply prevents knocking in the internal combustion engine. Lead was added for over 50 years, even though it was known from the beginning how harmful it was. Already in the first years of production the workers in the factories died in rows, the lead oxide spread from the exhaust gases around the whole globe. In 1924, Midgley wanted to demonstrate that his invention was harmless and inhaled the fumes of leaded gasoline. He promptly got lead poisoning himself and had to spend over a year recovering from it.
Thomas Midgley's second invention was Freon / CFC - the ozone layer killer. The aim was to find a cheap coolant for refrigerators. Again, Midgley could not resist with a self-experiment: In front of the public, Midgley inhaled the vapors of the new coolant called Freon and then blew out a candle with it. In this way, he simultaneously demonstrated that Freon was harmless to health and non-flammable. The world has not yet fully recovered from either invention. Thomas Midgley himself did not live to see it. He had invented a machine to lift himself out of bed with ropes and strings, and accidentally strangled himself with it in 1944.
Midgley is considered the biggest polluter in the history of mankind.
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1284430
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley
Stay healthy!
Sebastian, Andreas and Astrid