#28: Roadshow 2021, Fact Check, Proof of the Pudding (EN)
Have a beautiful Sunday! Here are the weekly inofficial fan news from the Sion project - on its way to series production. This time with some more pictures than usual.
+++ SION ON TOUR +++
"Finally, the time has come - the community tour can start on July 20th, 2021! ". The good news was delivered via the official newsletter and the website.
However, that is history already; after two hours, most of the test drive spots were already taken. Only visits without the option to drive are still available. Registration is still necessary. After all, that shows a great deal of interest in Sion.
https://sonomotors.com/de/events/
The team that awaits you is presented here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxI2bAYz7KI
A question that has often been asked: why aren't there test drives everywhere? Why are there locations without the option to drive the prototype?
The reasons are costs and logistics: you need a closed track on private grounds for test drives. In addition, when the car is being driven, other visitors cannot see it, so you need two vehicles on the site. So no protype is available in Munich for tests and development.
Preparing an on-site appointment takes longer and is more expensive than a small booth with just one vehicle. Now there is a mix, some cities with and some without test drives.
+++ PROOF OF THE PUDDING +++
There is one key metric in which fans and critics alike are super interested in: the yield of the solar panels on the Sion, and the net energy that arrives in the battery.
In the Sion app (which can be seen on a tablet during the test drives), you can see live values of what is being generated and what is being charged to the battery. Transparency to the max, Kudos to Sono for this.
From a technical point of view, two values are interesting:
The maximum solar production. The highest value I have personally seen so far was 390 watts. We skip out promotional videos. When it comes to taste pudding and proof, only personal experience counts.
The minimum value that is still charged to the high voltage battery is just as exciting. Like every car, the Sion has its own consumption, the many small control units. The solar panels have to deliver more than the car consumes when charging itself - otherwise, the battery would be discharged when trying. That is why it is interesting when the charging starts. I have seen values that are super good, some that were ok.
You cannot derive anything from one value alone, and we need several samples. I am convinced that Sono will improve this even further. But we've waited so long for it, so we can nibble on the dough.
It will not be possible to check this on all locations.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the_proof_is_in_the_pudding
+++ FACTS CHECK ON SITE +++
The list of community questions is getting longer, so I spontaneously invited myself to the showroom as a "Community Advisory Board" at Sono and the workshop - to shorten the list a bit on site.
Nicole and Vincent from the test drive team and Jakob, the SVC2 manager, were so nice and let me work on the prototype and actively supported me with the measurements.
I concentrated on what doesn't work on the test drive: the comparison of the old 2017 prototype and the new SVC2 right next to each other.
Findings:
The old trunk looks much wider, but it isn't. The new one is wider. The new one looks narrower because ion the massive sides, but it is not. I used a ruler and did some exact measurements.
There is a lot of space under the floor panel of the trunk because the engine has moved to the front.
With the base plate, there is less space than in the old prototype, but when you take it out, it is really big. If someone thinks about camping in the Sion, all the bedding fits in there. Important: there is still insulation, then it gets a little smaller, but not much.
Headroom and space in the rear is good.
There's only one USB-C port on the back. But it is not yet final whether it will stay that way. There are two upfront.
Whether the Frunk (storage compartment in the front under the bonnet for charging cables) is finally coming can only be said in September when the final freeze is. There is a draft. There is none in SVC2 yet.
The 230 V socket is only available outside, not in the trunk.
The compartment below the trunk floor
The current list of "open" community questions can be found here, in case you want to prepare for the test drive and are still looking for ideas what you could ask.
https://sono.news/testdrives/virtual-test-drive-next-level
Vice versa - If you cannot take the test drive but want to know something, please write in the comments on the page there; maybe someone will find the time to see it on site.
+++ SPRINT REVIEW +++
The 14-day report from the development is here. No significant incidents, maybe two points:
"June 22nd / 23rd: NEVS Rep, F2F with PO": Translated for the rest of us: "On June 22nd and 23rd, a NEVS liaison engineer from Sweden was on-site in Munich and met with the product managers".
There is a blocker on the bodywork: still no final agreement with the adhesive supplier. Glue is overrated anyway. Riveting is the new gluing.
https://sonomotors.com/site/assets/files/6467/sono-motors-dev-sprint-review-cw24-21.pdf
+++ FINANCIALS +++
There are increasingly more questions about finances. Understandable - with 200 employees and major development partners, the money machine is turning faster and faster. At the beginning of 2021, after the entry of the Swedish fund, nobody had to ask the question. With 45 fresh million, it was quiet for now. But 100 million euros are also gone at some point, Boris Becker once had that much, and he put it back into the financial cycle all by himself over the course of 20 years. And he only had a car dealership and no car manufacturer.
Robin from RobinTV puts his finger in the wound - "I couldn't find anything," he says at 8:50 in the video, and Laurin explains why Sono is communicating the way they do.
https://youtu.be/bSXLs3fpfvY?t=506
An example of why you don't do this here transparency can be: the millions Sono received from the Swedish Robur fund are only 0.7% of their portfolio. If things go well or badly at Sonomotors, this is one decimal place in Sweden. But - the mutual fund is listed. This goes hand in hand with a special responsibility when it comes to communication. Financial controlling at Sono is now much more professional than many would expect.
In one of the last videos, Laurin said, very confident: "it fits." That may be heavily oversimplified - but at the core, it's what one can say.
+++ NORA +++
Prominent visit to Waldmeisterstraße - actress Nora Tschirner and the ZDF (second german teleision) visited the showroom. The broadcast will follow, photos in advance:
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1412048936441950210
The report from Galileo has also been online since Friday. Galileo happily mixes old and new reports here, so cobalt is still on the table, which is now history, at least in connection with the battery.
+++ LIGHTYEAR +++
Lightyear is still in the race to deliver the first solar electric car from a startup company. Now they have covered over 700 km in a test drive on a single charge from the 60 kWh battery. They drove at 85 km / h for about 9 hours until the battery was depleted.
https://lightyear.one/articles/we-did-it-setting-a-new-standard-for-ev-efficiency
I consider hypermiling results a bit critical because they stir false expectations. You can drive 1000 km in a row with the Model 3 from Tesla if you limit yourself to 38 km / h. However, in practice, this has little relevance, and many are disappointed if they do not achieve these values.
+++ BAFA +++
There are many indications that the increased Bafa (subsidy for electric cars in Germany) premium will be extended to 2025 during this legislative period, i.e. before the election. At least there are plenty of posts and reports currently being generated about this.
Currently, there is still talk of 25,500 euros for the Sion and Markus Volmer (CTO) sounded very confident in last week's video that Sono Motors could also participate in the bonus. With funding, the Sion would then be available for around 16,500 euros (after funding). Other interpretations assume that the price including VAT might increase to allow the subsidy to be implemented. This would end up at 28.500 lis price, and 19.000 € after subsidies, including VAT. And keep the Sion in line with the initial price target of “below 20k”.
Personally, I'm cautious with the Bafa bonus, there is a choice in autumn, and there is currently a trend that the bonus is being exploited: people buy e-cars, collect the bonus and wait 6 months. The car is then sold at a discount abroad where the premium is not available. A few thousand euros of profit should be in it - Bafa will not go along with that in the long run.
+++ BEAM ME UP +++
So at least one projector can be operated from the prototype. Sono goes on a company outing to the Oberschleißheim regatta course and watches the EM. Work hard - watch others play hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aC-lTbVeGE
+++ FUN FACT +++
We have thought about something for the test drive - a small challenge: whoever takes the highest live value of solar generation wins. Regardless of whether in the prototype or in the app.
480W is the current front runner. Simply post photos to the group here or send an email to seb@sono.news.
The price is a 3D printed mini-Sion! We ship worldwide!
Have a nice week, stay healthy.