1,000 Mark Reached: Sono Motors Makes Significant Progress Towards Achieving Its Goal of 3,500 Fully Paid Sion Reservations

  • The #savesion Campaign of Munich Solar Mobility OEM Sono Motors Registered a Total of 1,000 Fully Paid Reservations for the Sion, the Company’s Solar Electric Vehicle

  • The 50-Day Campaign Was Launched on 8 December and Aims at Raising Approx. €100m Gross From Paid Reservations or Other Investments to Continue the Sion Program

  • Laurin Hahn, Co-founder and CEO: “Sion Development Program Is Well Advanced”

  • Winter Test With Series-Validation Vehicle Affirms Potential for 5,800 km Yearly Average Solar Range in Munich Due to Unique Integration of Solar Panels into the Entire Car Body

  • While the Campaign Is Running, the Sion Is on Tour in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands

MUNICH, Germany, 26 December 2022 – Sono Motors (NASDAQ: SEV), the solar mobility OEM from Munich, announced on 24 December, that the company has received more than 1,000 full deposits for the solar electric vehicle Sion. The 50-day #savesion campaign was launched on 8 December and aims at raising approx. €100m gross from deposits, which equals 3,500 fully paid reservations for the Sion. The company will only withdraw the money from the crowd investors if it reaches the campaign goal. This sum is intended to cover a large part of the investments up to pre-series production of the Sion in 2023 and trigger a positive domino effect as the first step in a far-reaching financing strategy.

Laurin Hahn, co-founder and CEO of Sono Motors: "The milestone of 1,000 full deposits shows that it is worth fighting together for the Sion. Our solar electric car program is well advanced. In a solar winter test under real conditions in December, the month with the least daylight, we reached a calculated 28 km of pure solar range per week. This means that we were already able to achieve 80% of the expected winter solar yield about a year ahead of planned production. This test with a series-validation vehicle confirms the potential for an average of 5,800 km annual solar range in Munich, thanks to the unique integration of the solar modules into the entire body. In addition, bidirectional charging is functional. We were able to test our V2V charging technology with 3 phases at 13 amps with limited amperage during the first test cycles. This resulted in a bidirectional charging output of 8 kW AC between a Sion and an unmodified series EV. After the start of production, a planned OTA software update will enable the Sion to charge with up to 11 kW AC. At the same time, we are in an intensive testing phase with 13 vehicles for series validation and 32 body-in-white, including tests in the U.S., Spain, Sweden, Italy, Hungary and Germany." 

Roughly two weeks ago, Sono Motors said that it would not continue the Sion program if the #savesion campaign failed. Instead, the company would focus on its B2B solar business, which requires less capital and has already started generating revenue. To date, Sono Motors has raised over €330 million via investors and financial instruments. However, due to the capital market decline in the recent past, it was not able to fully finance the remaining capital necessary until the planned start of production in the first quarter of 2024.

Strong Support From the Sono Motors Community – Almost No State Funding
“The successful start of the campaign fills us with pride and gives us the certainty that the demand for the Sion is great and our solar electric car is urgently needed as a partial solution to climate change and the energy crisis,” says Jona Christians, co-founder and CEO of Sono Motors. “We have received almost no state funding, so we will continue to focus on our Community and on the capital markets. We have raised over €330m in capital since 2016, which, by German standards, is a huge amount of money. Less than 0.5% of these funds were provided by the government. That is really sad and clearly shows that innovative solar technology remains a low priority for our government,” adds Christians.

Sion Test-Drive Tour in Four European Countries
In support of the #savesion campaign, the Sion is on a test-drive tour through 12 cities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands in December 2022 and January 2023. The next stops include Oberhausen, Germany, on 28 December 2022, and Frankfurt, Germany, on 4 January 2023. In addition, the Sion is on show at the Sono Motors’ Munich showroom, which is open seven days a week.

NOTE
Reservations can only be made by persons located in 27 European jurisdictions. We do not accept reservations from persons located in any other country. We also do not accept reservations from U.S. persons. This document is for information purposes only.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release includes forward-looking statements. The words "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "aim", "forecast", "project", "target", “will” and similar expressions (or their negative) identify certain of these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are statements regarding the Company's intentions, beliefs, or current expectations. Forward-looking statements involve inherent known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and contingencies because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to (i) the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy, our industry and markets as well as our business, (ii) risks related to our limited operating history, the rollout of our business and the timing of expected business milestones including our ability to complete the engineering of our vehicles and start of production on time and budget and risks related to future results of operation, (iii) risks related to our unproven ability to develop and produce vehicles and with expected or advertised specifications including range, and risks relating to required funding, (iv) risks related to our ability to monetize our solar technology, (v) risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to our business including the conversion of reservations into binding orders, (vi) effects of competition and the pace and depth of electric vehicle adoption generally and our vehicles in particular on our future business and (vii) changes in regulatory requirements, governmental incentives and fuel and energy prices. For additional information concerning some of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could affect our forward-looking statements, please refer to the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and on our website at ir.sonomotors.com. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond the Company's ability to control or estimate precisely, such as the actions of regulators and other factors. Readers should therefore not place undue reliance on these statements, particularly not in connection with any contract or investment decision. Except as required by law, the company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.
 


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Sono Group N.V. (NASDAQ: SEV) is on a pioneering mission to accelerate the revolution of mobility by making every vehicle solar. Sono Motors’ disruptive solar technology has been engineered to be seamlessly integrated into a variety of vehicle architectures — including third-party OEM cars, buses, refrigerated vehicles, and recreational vehicles — to extend range and reduce fuel costs as well as the impact of CO2 emissions, paving the way for climate-friendly mobility.