#23 (EN): Solar Body Panels, Chereau, Croatia
Munich is not only home to a Hofbräuhaus, but also to elements on shelves. At Bertrandt in Munich, all the parts are stored to build up the mini Sion fleet of more than a dozen "Series Validation Vehicles" for test drives, crash tests and trials. And of course, for the final live test of the solar yield with series parts. This week, Sono has published photos and videos from the hallowed halls.
+++ HIGHLIGHT +++
The "Solar Body Panels" have arrived in Munich. An interview with Dominik explains the details. The video starts in English, but then switches to German and a bit longer than planned, as a really good conversation developed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owVn7T3eBWs (German after the intro)
In the back of the video you can see the warehouse with all the parts. Here is another two minutes video showing some parts - the walk through the shelves:
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1532635954946756610 (English)
In today's cover photo, you can see the stack of tires, they're already there too.
+++ BLOG +++
"Uncompromising Field Testing: How the 16 complete vehicles and 21 test vehicles are created and how testing is done is explained in more detail by Max in the Sono Blog, including some pictures.
https://sonomotors.com/de/blog/sion-update-assembling-the-vehicles-for-series-validation/
The electric car news also reports:
https://www.elektroauto-news.net/2022/sono-solar-e-auto-sion-serien-validierung
+++ CHAPEAU +++
"Solar on every vehicle" also means - refrigerated trucks. Together with Chereau from Luxembourg, refrigerated trailers will be equipped with nearly 60 (!) square meters of solar with almost 10 kW peak. So that the frozen pizza also arrives cold. The result is to be presented at the IAA Transportation 2022. It is expected to save up to 3,400 liters of fuel. Chapeau, Chereau.
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1531896428762746880
The press also reports on this:
+++ COUNTDOWN +++
Net 418 new reservations in May: this allows for 200 more reservations for the price of 28,500 euros (inclusive 19% German VAT) - conditions 1 June 2022 - .After that, the price will increase to €29,900.
Reservations as of April 1, 2022: 17,097
Reservations as of May 1, 2022: 17,882
Reservations as of June 1, 2022: 18,300
https://website.sonomotors.com/de/about-us/
+++ COMMUNITY MEETING GERMANY NORTHWEST +++
Josef is organizing, as already reported, the northwest meeting of the community:
Two of us from the Admin Team will be there.
Date: June 25, 2022
Time: 16.00
Where: Emstek near Cloppenburg (A1/A29)
Registration, also because of the dinner (from 18.00), please contact Josef via email until June 10, 2022 at the latest at emstek1@gmx.net. The time is beween two holidays in germany, so we are not sure if people can attend. So if you plan to come, plese send an email.
+++ 7 IN ONE GO +++
New arrivals for the streets - seven car brands coming to us. German magazine “Auto Motor und Sport” reports on innovative new vehicle brands. Sono wraps up the video and is at number 7 on the list. There's no new info in it, but 60,000 views ensure coverage and awareness to protential new reservation holders.
https://youtu.be/VSKEdNAm_70?t=555
+++ CROWDFUNDING FESTIVAL +++
The City of Munich's crowdfunding program celebrated its fourth birthday with the "Crowdfunding Festival@Community Kitchen" on May 18, 2022. The closing words in the video are delivered by Jona with a concrete hint for successful crowdfunding: "Be like yourself, get the message out there what you want to do, and then there will be people who say - cool, that's exactly where I want to be."
https://youtu.be/kXh6DJ09Oh4?t=203
+++ YOGI JOH +++
Yoga festival in Neuhausen/Spree (Brandenburg) - with a lecture by Jona. This is one of the appropriate target groups for the overall concept of the Sion. Topic: "Business for a sustainable world: Connecting worlds - How we create the new without disconnecting the old".
https://yoga-united-festival.de/speaker/jona-christens/
+++ FUN FACT +++
I've been driving electric since 2013, and actually I would describe myself as relatively fearless. In Denmark, I built my own grounding in a vacation home on the dune to make the car charge, in Italy charged with a homemade three-phase adapter conected at a wine press outlet. This year we're going to Rovinj in Croatia, and that actually almost brought me to a limit.
The trip itself is no issue. The last fast charger is 100 km away. The problem: The hotel is on an island, you leave the car behind - and the parking lot is a large field in the middle of nowhere on the mainland- no power outlet at all. Only the car, dust and 14 days of blazing sun. You get to the hotel by shuttle and boat from there.
I know my trusty old Bruce (Tesla drivers give their cars names, it’s a fanboy thing - my gray one is named after Bruce the vegetarian shark from "finding Nemo", the one with “fish are friends, not food”). The battery tempering eats 20-30 km of range a day when stationary at hot temperatures - the "Vampire Drain". That could be the end of the return trip: after 14 days, the battery would be almost empty. In the worst case, I would have to go back to the mainland once in the middle of the vacation, with the shuttle to the Parkplaz and to recharge. Not nice, the combustion engine fans will rejoice.
Before panic breaks out, the Sion will not have 20 km of "vampire drain" per day - that is an old problem of early Teslas. No other electric car loses that much charge when stationary. The reason is that the electronics run constantly and drink electrons like a fish, and then the cooling system comes on and everything runs from of the high-voltage battery. In everyday life, this is not noticeable, because you charge anywayiso every now and then, and if you park longer for example at an airport, your car is not exposed to the outdoors.
If the hotel is good, we'll go there again in two years, with the Sion. And then park in the same parking lot in the outback in the sun. To charge.
Stay healthy.
Sebastian, Astrid, Andreas