Not every business that starts in a garage needs to be a success story. Sono Motors was born six years ago in a garage in Karben, Hesse, when the young founders Laurin Hahn, Navina Pernsteiner and Jona Christians developed the first electric vehicle prototype, later called the Sion, in which a solar roof supported the battery. The company is now headquartered in Munich and registered on the Nasdaq in New York.
The production of the serial model was planned in the former Saab plant in Gothenburg. However, whether a Zion will ever roll off the assembly line is uncertain. “We haven’t been able to raise enough money and explain to investors why the world needs Zion and that there is a huge demand for it,” Laurin Hahn and Jona Christians now tell their supporters and are asking for millions more.
In recent years, Sono Motors has financed itself mainly through crowdfunding campaigns. “What we need now is your commitment to Zion and, yes, a lot of money.” their Zion to collect the missing millions, so that series production can start in early 2024. Production was originally scheduled to start in 2019.
In recent years, the garage company has become a certified manufacturer by the Federal Motor Transport Authority, which says it raised more than $264 million when it listed on the U.S. Nasdaq stock exchange. In communication, the founders are quite self-critical. “We underestimated the cost, timing and complexity in some details” and furthermore “fears of an impending recession are leading most investors to avoid taking risks”.
The company’s financial woes are not new to the Sono community. As early as 2019, supporters of the start-up were asked for donations because the company was unable to obtain the necessary funds through the usual funding channels. At the time, potential investors wanted to secure patent rights, and that was out of the question for the founders. A crowdfunding campaign has allocated more than 50 million euros to Sono Motors coffers.
Again the founders don’t want to take the obvious route and say goodbye to the Zion project. “The logical consequence now would be to say that we discontinue the Sion project and focus entirely on our solar business.” Sono now also supplies solar systems for heavy commercial vehicles and buses and is successful in this segment. However, that would mean a radical change of course and the end of Zion. “But it can’t be our way, because we still firmly believe in Zion,” plead Hahn and Christian to the Zion community. “Every euro counts. We believe this will allow us to find new investors and pay for the remaining machinery, equipment and production assets.”
It all seems pretty desperate. In view of the uncertain financial future, the company imposed a hiring freeze last month. In its Q3 2022 report, Sono was expecting a sunny future despite a loss of 104 million euros in the first nine months. According to Hahn, there were 21,000 firm bookings and 22,000 advance orders from fleet operators, and the US tour with the Sion was a success. Hahn proudly displayed a Zion in front of the Golden Gate Bridge during the video conference call. At the same time, the solar department was able to acquire numerous new customers. But obviously this was not enough to guarantee the investment to start mass production.
The Sion is a compact e-mobile whose 120 kW (163 hp) electric motor is supported by solar panels integrated into the bodywork, which are intended to generate an additional range of 34 kilometers. Between zero and 100 km/h less than nine seconds should elapse and the top speed is reached at 140 km/h. Sono Motors promises a range of 255 kilometers (measured according to WLTP). Depending on the charging capacity, the charging time is between half an hour and up to 3.5 hours. The originally planned price of 20,000 to 25,000 euros has now risen to 29,900 euros. (Walther Wuttke/cen)
