Sono - What went wrong?- Does it affect Aptera and Lightyear?

[@spankeyfish]

5:55 Aptera's been around longer than Sono but not continuously. They originally formed in 2005, pretty much went bust in the Credit Crunch, dissolved the company in 2011 then reformed in 2019. The car hasn't really changed that much from the 2008 one- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_2_Series

[@DrTeeHenry]

You pack a lot into 7½ minutes! Well done. I wish Sono well, but extrapolating the rate of funding to the deadline does not bode well for them. Of course there could be a rush at the end. Lightyear is producing cars now (very expensive cars) which should help their revenue stream. Aptera is looking for $50 million to enable build-out of their assembly facility and are in a bit of a holding pattern until that funding materializes. Interesting to watch how all three progress. I hope they all make it.

[@passivlife]

Yeap, interesting times. Essentially they are all taking a unique approach to the same product.

[@ignorasmus]

As a customer in market, I totally understand the frustration of people over the delays. As an engineer who has worked in automotive industry for considerable time, I am surprised that Sono has managed to create a street legal Car from scratch at all. Also, I would like to remind them that Tesla- an established brand with deep pockets - had announced the "Roadster" in 2017, "Cybertruck" in 2019 and nither of them are yet in production. If a person, believes in the idea of an affordable, non profit driven, truly eco friendly, family car, I say Sion should be worth the wait. #savesion

[@anderssryanssons]

Wow, soo true!

[@billyfyre158]

It is not street legal, it is just a prototype without road approval! The plates are missing the approval sticker.

[@matthewbaynham6286]

I really want to buy a Sion myself. I think if Sono Motors can't raise enough then someone like VW could buy them and put the car into production. VW has been known to buy other car companies and if you look at the first few cars VW made it was all about a simple car to get from A to B, very much inline with the Sion. But whether Sono Motors stays independent or gets bought up by a group, I'm very sure the Sion will go into productions, they already have the sales lined up, and that's worth something.

[@GNiessen]

If they were producing in the US, I would definitely be backing them. But they are a few years from that, even if they are able to start production.

[@passivlife]

That seems to be a deal breaker for a lot of people. I think the sion is better suited to the EU market but it would still sell well in the US I feel.

[@n.brucenelson5920]

I agree that it is a project worth saving. A link to this video has been posted to Reddit at r/ApteraMotors. Thanks for your coverage, and best wishes to everyone for a happy new year!

[@passivlife]

Thanks! Best wishes to you too.

[@chadthundercaulk1167]

Sono is the classic short range commuter only imo. Sure it has solar to add marginal city range but I doubt it would be much on the highway.

[@stevemccormack9948]

I always thought this was an appealing car. Maybe it will attract some attention from car makers as the project and design has some potential. While the integrated solar panels are a nice idea for sunny countries I think they should have shed them from the list or keep them as an option for customers. Of course grappling with the huge cost of batteries was always going to be a problem for production. I still don't understand why companies need to make large cars as their first project. It's not like electric cars are a new concept anymore. What's wrong with a small vehicle to start out with? Like the little Microlino etc. After all, look at the worldwide proliferation of electric bikes right now - keep it small and get them out.... Anyway, Germany is likely to have a big manufacturing scarcity soon due to the war and the lack of cheap gas.

[@mrThoreKarlsson]

Im thinking that if Sono fails .. Aptera and lightyear migt also fail ?

[@passivlife]

Perhaps but it seems unlikely. Lightyear is supported by Koenigsegg and Aptera is supported by Munro Associates, both of which bring a lot of consumer confidence. Sono was also heavily based in Germany, and the other two are much more international, which also helps.

[@shrimptopian3392]

No, its mainly Sono who is very bad organisational , their plans where unrealistic from the start

[@adimchionyenadum2962]

Very balanced and objective estimation. I too wish Sono success. The only point of correction is on the graph that gave Aptera some funding in 2018, and nothing in 2019. I don't know what you are referring to. The new Aptera was launched in late 2019 on Wefunder. Thanks for sharing.

[@passivlife]

Hello Adimchi, thanks for the great question. Aptera recieved quite a lot of private seed money before the launch of their public campaign. So did the others but not all information is public. I hope that helps to clarify.

[@adimchionyenadum2962]

@@passivlife Of course I know that. I only thought that the beginning of your table and talk was at the first crowdfunding efforts of the companies, especially of Sono and Aptera.

[@passivlife]

​@@adimchionyenadum2962 Apologgies for the confussion. I was going by my own metric of when I think the serious design work began. For Aptera they I think it most likely began before the seeding round. Its a grey zone at best, especially where Aptera is concerned due to the previous company.

[@jocosson8892]

Why would people throw money away on a for profit corporation?! Madness Workers Ownership

[@passivlife]

You could say that about most companies :)

[@jocosson8892]

@@passivlife I do. DemocraticSocialismNOW

[@anderssryanssons]

Why don't you support Sono? I think you missed a lot about the actual product. Aptera is a car meant to transport only 2 people and very light luggage, and lightyear is simply a luxury car. Sono is an everyday everybody's practical car that could be the only one you own unless you travel 100's a kilometres a day or week which is questionable anyways

[@passivlife]

Hi Ryan, my apologies if it sounds like I don’t support Sono. I do support Sono and the Sion is a great project and as I say in the video I do hope it survives and it is definitely worth saving. Please understand that KZbinrs can get into a lot of legal trouble very easily if they promote risky investments, and unfortunately that is the situation with Sono at the moment. As you rightly point out it is by far the most family friendly SEV in development, so it should have much greater market appeal than the others.

[@billyfyre158]

Sono Motors has been making promises since 2016, not keeping any deadlines. The car is an unfinished prototype and billions are missing until cars can be delivered. Their calculations are unrealistic.

[@anderssryanssons]

I would love seeing you achieving that, so easy to judge from where you are, How's your life challenges going on?

[@billyfyre158]

@@anderssryanssons I am not taking payments from unsuspecting customers, for a car that not will be delivered as advertised. Delivery 2024 is impossible. Sono Motors is close to fraud.

[@DaBinChe]

Sono is not worth saving. Nothing special about their product. What folks should do is back and invest in Aptera. Aptera is the most likely to make it and is actually revolutionary.

[@anderssryanssons]

How's your life challenges going on? Anything to report?

[@michael47lamb]

Sono will go away and what is left over of value will be bought up for pennies on the dollar by others. Besides the Sono design leaves a great deal that needs to be changed. I predict that someplace like BMW and Volkswagen will buy up a few of the better patents and scrap the rest. Frankly, I am surprised anyone invested real money into Sono. Bad move.

[@vic321344]

Sono sold promises as reality. For years. Same as Aptera.

[@gordongrigsby5172]

they should have made a deal with a major car company so they could have got their product out there seems to me that they were just too greedy now they have shit.

[@spankeyfish]

They need an assembler like Magna Steyr. Magna don't care about having their name on the vehicle, just bung them some cash and they'll build it.

[@passivlife]

Standard car manufacturers are not really interested in sevs or evs. They have very close ties to the oil industry. Sevs and evs are so simple compared to ices that they would struggle to maintain market dominance as more players can enter the market. Its short sighted but at tge moment their strategy is to delay transition through politics. Buying an sev start up would be admitting the future is not in combustion engines.