#3 (EN): CES Recap, Solar Truck and melted cocolate
CES is over. Sono celebrated his 5th birthday yesterday. Time to recap:
+++ HIGHLIGHT: CES LIVESTREAM +++
The live video from the CES live stream is already the second most popular Sono video of all - with over 2000 positive likes - after less than a week. Only the four-year-old Kickstarter video from 2016 with the Sion concept presentation has received more likes.
The community's desire to follow the "reveal event" live could be heard loud and clear right before the event. After all, you don't want to reserve a car, and the revelation takes place behind a paywall. Everything was tried to make the live stream possible despite the strict requirements of the CES. Luckily, it worked last minute, and the "Plan B" with live blogging could stay in the drawer.
The show's highlight was the updated Sion and numerous details: the Conti engine was confirmed once again, NEVS as the contract manufacturer, Valoe as the solar provider. A new infotainment display was presented, front parking sensors and many more little details.
The second focus was on solar integration and additional sales potential. A semi-trailer truck was shown as "One More Thing" with Schwarzmüller and the Fraunhofer Institute as partners, which can generate up to 80 kWh of energy. This can significantly reduce the energy required for cooling. As a further example, a partnership with a French electric, fully autonomous "people mover" with solar integration has been announced.
The third focus was on the topic of "sharing" - after all, every Sion should also be able to be shared.
The feedback was very positive. There were essentially two points of criticism that can be clarified personally during test drives:
- The solar integration works like a mixture of a down comforter and a melted bar of chocolate. You have to see in person what that looks like in the end.
- Due to the combination of pre-produced videos and live images, it was not clear what was currently possible and what was not. What is near series, and what is not?
The target group of the CES is business customers, investors, and the press. Here Sono scored with a very professional presentation. Let's see what happens to it. For reservations, I think the show increased the desire for a new test drive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhlHJ9FA7q0
Detail photo with the last names of all reservations:
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1349778424693448707
+++ CANNED +++
During the CES session, some pre-produced clips were shown. These also appear individually on the network. Here's the first:
Disrupting Mobility For A Better Future
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTieOtW5BF8
+++ SESSION 2: SEV OR SUV? +++
On Wednesday, there was also a second detailed session. The content was similar to the first session, emphasizing solar and Q&A. If Tuesday was the lecture, then that was the small group exercise. New here was a clip from the boss of Valoe, who praised the cooperation. Jona's closing words were memorable: we want to take our customers with us to sustainable mobility. To a sustainable world without fossil fuels.
+++ NAME-DROPPING +++
Rattling is part of the trade, and a new trend is probably to draw the attention of other marketing departments through Twitter mentions. The editorial offices of Verge, TechCrunch, and Wired were "pinged" by quick photo montages, apparently to get mentions in the English-language press:
"Warner Media" (open-air cinema powered by "Sion")
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1349389515216007170
"Microsoft" / "BostonDynamics" / GM ("The Creation" / "The Flying Sparks")
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1348676243688980481
"BostonDynamics" (pizza robot)
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1349682212912967681/photo/1
Some tweets were also deleted immediately, like the Wüstensohn / Wüstension - although I have to say that other posts were definitely better too ..
https://twitter.com/sonomotors/status/1349003215665291264
The Internet does not forget anything; the post is still available here:
The whole thing worked, by the way, Wired included the Sion in the 79 CES highlights:
https://www.wired.com/story/ces-2021-highlights-liveblog-whole-show/ (middle of web page)
+++ BIRTHDAY +++
Sono Motors GmbH was five years old yesterday. Congratulations.
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1350369131955105793
Laurin published a little "Hommage" on LinkedIn yesterday to celebrate: "Two Friends":
+++ JOBS +++
Four new jobs because there was already so much text above only briefly:
- CAD engineer for the entire vehicle
- Lead Chassis Engineer - Suspension Systems
- Lead Chassis Engineer - Brake and Steering
- Group lead marketing
https://sonomotors.jobs.personio.de
++ PRESS REVIEW +++
There was a lot to read in the German-language press, over a hundred reports appeared in the Dropbox, to list them all would go beyond the scope. Two examples, one in German, one in English:
https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/elektroauto/sono-motors-sion-serie-bilder-infos-preis/
https://thedriven.io/2021/01/13/sono-motors-reveals-34000-sion-solar-car-you-can-really-afford/
+++ DATES +++
The next exciting date will be when the test drives can occur, and everyone can get an idea of the new Sion.
Otherwise, due to the current Corona situation, no other public events can be found.
+++ FUN FACT +++
In the prototype, the names of all reservations are immortalized on the glove compartment. Nice detail. It was not disclosed whether this will be used in series production or at least in the first vehicles of the current reservation. Nice move anyway.