SOLAR-POWERED CARS

Here’s some fuel for thought… Imagine a world where you never have to stop for petrol. Or electricity. You could just keep driving, only ever stopping to refuel yourself with coffee and pasties. Until someone invents a vehicle that’ll feed off your macchiato dregs, Sono Motors’ Sion is our best hope of such a utopia coming into existence. It uses the sun to transport you wherever you please, like some kind of super-villainous scheme for world domination… only the Sion is great for the planet and could save you a fortune on fuel. And no one’s thought of this before? Not on this scale, nope. Ford cooked up a solar C-max concept a couple of years ago, but Sono Motors is the first manufacturer to bring the same idea to mass production. So from 2019 onwards you’ll be able to purchase this city slicker for an entirely reasonable €16,000 and whizz around your local vicinity via the power of renewable energy alone. Of course, it doesn’t just generate this stuff out of thin air. The Sion has been plastered with 330 solar cells on its roof, bonnet and doors so that it can generate enough juice to cover 30km per day. Sounds nice. But I live in Blighty, remember? Ah yes, the land of rain and glory. But fear not, the Sion isn’t about to leave you stranded just outside of Bakewell with only the mini golf course for entertainment. It can also be charged by a traditional plug-in, just as you might a Tesla or Toyota Prius. And in truth, you’ll have to do this on the regular to enjoy its full 250km range. The greater issue for us Brits is that we’ve got to travel to the continent for a test drive: for now, the Sion can only be taken for a free spin in locations across France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands.