#4 (EN): More photos, more video and a kettle
Have a nice Sunday, and welcome to issue 4/2021 of the little Sono column.
+++ HIGHLIGHT +++
The prototype is out there somewhere, and many can't wait to see it in person. According to the plan, there is still a little way to go before the test drives start (April?). The time will come. But at least the number of detailed photos is increasing.
Images and CAD drawings are appearing more and more frequently on the Internet.
There are two ISO-FIX brackets in the rear, and one in the passenger seat in the front, along with a picture right from the CAD design:
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1352597185955844099/photo/1
The seats in a close-up:
https: / /twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1352577580323532802/photo/2 Front
Seats and driver space in detail:
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1352577580323532802/photo/1
+++ NEW PROMO VIDEO +++
Some content of the CES videos is cut together with old film snippets and previously unseen material to create new promo videos. Some criticize that the representations are wildly mixed up, the age-old "egg design", the old prototype, the new SVC2, renderings of the old and new mixed up. On the plus side, they exude a good mood, which is also worth a lot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBQJ9zr75BA
+++ IN THE PRESS +++
There are a lot of press clippings that just copy the press release without adding new information. I'll skip there and just focus on the ones with at least some level of research or new information:
"Sono Motors: IPO ? ". (in typical tabloid paper style "Bild", speculation with question marks and without source)
https://www.computerbild.de/artikel/cb-News-Finanzen-Sono-Motors-29652733.html
The COO Thomas Hausch seems to have a fan at Edison, after all the name was mentioned 11 times in a short article:
Two quotes:
"But most of, Thomas Hausch, the COO of the Munich startup, is pleased that the development and testing of the electric car is continuing."
"it could happen that the delivery of the first cars will be postponed to 2023. Hausch doesn't like the situation like that. His ambition is to get the car on the road as quickly as possible."
The English press also reports on the Sion, but just the press release. CarScoops has made a little more effort:
And "Miss Electric" From Michigan also reports from minute 4:30 (also in English)
https://youtu.be/rD295LKFMkI?t=270
+++ UFODRIVE +++
Sono has announced a cooperation with UFODRIVE carsharing. It is currently just a press release, as there is no physical car to add to the fleet. But good news nonetheless.
https://sonomotors.com/de/blog/mobility-provider-ufodrive-incorporates-sion-into-fleet/
+++ COMPETITION LEFT AND RIGHT +++
Two interesting new additions to the EV market have been announced this week:
- VW has added the ID.3 base model "Pure". The formerly announced list price of "under 30,000 €" could not be kept, but 31,495 € before subsidies gets fairly close. After deduction of the subsidies in Germany, 21,925 euros remain before the haggling starts.
For that money you get 110kW of power, a 45kWh battery with 350 km range according to WLTP. Fast charging with 50kW and two-phase charging with 7.2kW (interestingly, two phase charging is still a thing). LED headlights, CarPlay and Android Auto are included, just like the Sion. The list of additional options is very short, not typical for german car manufacturers: you cannot order features that are included in the Sion such as cruise control, trailer hitch, seat heating. And of course no solar or illuminated broccoli plantation in the dashboard. An optional heat pump is available for 1.275 € and 100kW fast charging option for € 650.
https://www.volkswagen.de/de/modelle-und-konfigurator/id3.html
- Mercedes sends the GLA into the race in "Edition 1", like the Sion with a 750kg trailer hitch, from zero in 8.9 seconds hundred and front-wheel drive. The GLA is 5cm less tall than the Sion, the same width, 15cm longer. When it comes to list price, the similarities end: Daimler asks for 47,540 euros for the version with 67 kWh battery and 426 km range, before subsidies. My gut feeling tells me the model will have a hard time.
https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/autokatalog/marken-modelle/mercedes/mercedes-eqa/
+++ WATER BOILDER +++
Unfortunately, everything I get to know in the advisory board is strictly confidential. A funny detail that I can share is a kettle on the Sion's Schuko socket - and what that means.
Anyone who does "something with electric cars and charging" knows the problem: at some point when testing, the battery is full and you can't go on with your charging tests. You have to interrupt work and discharge the battery again to be able to do another set of tests.
The usual solution is to drive the car out of the lab: open vehicle doors, crank up the air conditioning to max and wait until the battery is ready again. With charging stations, it is easier: you connect a hot plate a kettle to the charging station and run your tests (filled with water from January to November of course) . Kettles have high energy consumption and thus are perfect for simulating the charging of an electric car. This is particularly helpful for software tests because you can see and hear from your desk whether charging is up.
A kettle on the Sion means that the Bidi-Charger in the prototype must be able to deliver at least some serious energy. What exactly works and what doesn't cannot be said without futher analysis. We will certainly see at some point; but if you can boil, that's a good step.
+++ NEW FACT SHEET +++
I had it in my Dropbox for 14 days, but there was simply no space in the little news: the information sheet has been updated to a new design, and with the new terms: viSono, reSono and goSono have been removed, "Sono Solar" and "Sono Digital" are the new generic terms.
https://sonomotors.com/site/assets/files/1621/information-sheet-sion-en-2020-01-12.pdf
+++ JOBS +++
In the last week three new jobs have been added.
Injection Molding Engineer: Review and analyze engineered plastic parts and work on continuous improvements
https://sonomotors.jobs.personio.de/job/307364
Senior Business Development Manager: B2B Acquisition & (Cold) Lead generation
https://sonomotors.jobs.personio.de/job/303542
CAE Engineer - Vehicle Integrated Photovoltaic: Project responsibility for thermo-mechanical, structural, and fatigue analysis of Integrated Polymer PV Modules
https://sonomotors.jobs.personio.de/job/299590
+++ ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, SONO POINTS +++
There is nothing new about the Sono points and the annual financial statement of 2019.
The annual financial statements were due at the end of December but have not yet been published. However, it might bethat Sono Motors GmbH does not need to publish statements anymore, as it is now part of Sono Group NV (80683568). I'll clarify that for you.
With the Sono points, there is still time. They will be issued only when the owner actually buys the vehicle.
+++ FUN FACT +++
The first charging stations were set up in 2010, the network was far from dense at that time. Since the electric cars were still in development at that time, they could not be used for testing across Europe. So there was a "charging suitcase" that handles communication with the wallbox, and a kettle as a consumer to kill the energy, alternatively a cooking plate and a fan. When engineers with a set up like this ran up somewhere in the outback from Milan to Madrid, the interest and concern of the local residents was great. It looked suspicious. In France, passers-by even suspected an attack on the French power grid because a group with a laptop and a silver shell case connected wires to an AutoLib charging station. To be on the safe side, they were first arrested by the police but released later the day.
(2013: engineers briefly arrested for attacking the French EV charging network)
Fun Fact 2: 12 months later, the AutoLib charging network was officially approved as "fully compatible for all European electric cars".