Lightyear

History

Lightyear was founded in 2016 by alumni of Solar Team Eindhoven, who had won student races with solar powered cars. The Lightyear 0 was built from December 2022 by Valmet Automotive in Finland, and only about a dozen cars were completed. In January 2023 the manufacturing subsidiary Atlas Technologies went bankrupt. The patents sat with the holding company, which is what made a restart with a small team possible.

EV strategy

The idea was a car so frugal that the solar cells in its skin cover a noticeable share of the distance driven. Since 2023 Lightyear has stopped building cars of its own and supplies that solar technology to other manufacturers instead. In January 2026 it showed a demonstration vehicle with Nissan carrying almost four square metres of solar panels in the bonnet, roof and tailgate.

Good to know

• Only about a dozen Lightyear 0 cars were built before production ended.
• The 2023 bankruptcy hit only the manufacturing company; the patents sat in the holding, which is exactly what made the restart possible.
• The solar panels are now made on the company's own production line in Venray in the Netherlands.