Have a nice Sunday. Last week we analyzed the latest sprint report, this time it's all about the press releases.

The Sono press engine is slowly starting up again, and we can take a look at the latest reports. We don't list websites that just copy press releases, only publications that have used the keyboard and brains are included in the list. It might be a surprise, but last week was not as quite as it felt:

+++ CNN +++

Sono and Laurin on CNN! Live on Julia Chatterley’s "First Mover" segment: The interview is actually not bad at all, in the second part Julia asks critically about NEVS, about financing - and does not accept the first response without checking back.

For example the questions about solar customers was smartly answered by pointing to MAN as one of the first potential customer. Julia swiftly requests "ok, name some more"! Laurin does well, but he also skillfully blocks some of the questions. See for yourself, five minutes of great verbal tennis:

https://twitter.com/jchatterleyCNN/status/1484271181171765249

+++ PV MAGAZINE +++

Since 2014, “pv magazine Germany” is awarding the "top business model" and "top innovation" prize - four times a year. Since only four issues the magazine are published, you could also say - there are two award winners per issue.

In 2017, Sono won the "pv magazine top innovation" award. At that time, our start-up of hearts had booked only 1,500 reservations, still 3,500 were missing until the start of "series production in 2019 as contract manufacturing" at that time:

https://www.pv-magazine.de/2017/09/18/pv-magazine-award-fuer-elektroauto-mit-solardach/

Now Sono won the award in the category (brace yourselves) "Manufacturing". If you read through the text in detail, it becomes clear why. It's all about the novel approach to seamlessly integrating solar directly into the vehicle's manufacturing process. Friends of the sharp pencil find a new number: Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) refers to the cost per kWh including manufacturing costs over the lifetime. Solar integration the Sion provides electricity for 12 cents per kWh on a full cost basis according to the award text!

https://sonomotors.com/site/assets/files/7548/pv_award_2021-awardswinners.pdf

Wikipedia offers comparison tables of the electricity production costs of different power plant technologies. The Sion is not bad at all with this value, if you consider that the whole paint shop including the harmful environmental effects is also omitted in the process.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromgestehungskosten

Another value, which has not yet been communicated so clearly, can also be found in the pv magazine article. Sono assumes a 95% recycling rate of the panels, based on empirical values with the materials .

+++ WALL STREET JOURNAL +++

The Wallstreet Journal asks. "why don't all cars have solar roofs?". Spoiler Alert: The video comes to the clear conclusion that solar is not only coming, it's here to stay. The definitely sees potential for the aforementioned startups like Sono, Lightyear, Aptera and others, as they can gain and protect new knowledge on a daily basis - and that can be quite valuable if the big OEMs will then switch over as well.

https://www.wsj.com/video/series/george-downs/solar-cars-are-coming-so-why-arent-all-evs-solar/

+++ GREEN CAR MAGAZINE +++

Nils from green car magazine in Bordesholm (known primarily for the freeway triangle of the same name) took a much more critical look at Sono:

"The "Mia-san-mia" known from footballers is continuously underpinned by new press releases and Facebook postings."

"Looking at the updated status of the SVC3 component release on Sono Motors' website (03/2022), suppliers for many components are not even defined yet for chassis, exterior or interior."

https://greencarmagazine.de/tod-oder-gladiolen-sono-motors-auf-dem-weg-zur-serienfertigung/

This week's news makes it clear once again how polarizing solar is on the car: The Wall Street Journal says it can't come fast enough, PV Magazine puts a price on the launch, and Green Car sees problems above all: "Sono Motors is sticking to plans for solar panels on the entire surface of the car. This costs development time and money [...] completely new machine tools and production processes have to be developed until the car is ready for series production”.

Breaking new ground has never been easy.

+++ NEXT UPDATE +++

Currently it is still quiet, The Sono Motors Investor Relations page gives a small outlook:

Sono Group scheduled to publish business update for 2021 on Jan. 28, 2022

https://ir.sonomotors.com/events/event-details/sono-group-nv-provide-2021-full-year-business-update

So next week we will know more! (Thanks Heiko for the hint!)

+++ FUN FACT +++

Why pay at a charging station when you can get the charge from the sun for free?

Sono, with its concept of maximum solar integration, is still the solar range champion when the car hits the road. A new start-up is now trying to top SIon's 1,200 watts with a solar kit that folds out. 8x200 watts are possible, but you really need space behind the car to set up the solar panels after parking. A nice idea, for the city unfortunately conceivably unsuitable. And in the countryside as well, there is space, but you can use it more sensibly with conventional PV. Since the Sion is mentioned, it also has a place here in the column, the implementation is unfortunately only enough for the "Fun Fact of the Week".

https://www.evsolarkits.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cewn5XORpHk

Have a great week. Stay healthy.