The German mobility provider Sono Motors announced today that Continental, the world’s second largest automotive supplier, will build the Sion’s electric drive unit, which combines the motor, power electronics and transmission in one compact unit.
The electric drive unit, which has already been validated, can be incorporated into the Sion without the need for any additional significant development work and is therefore in keeping with Sono Motors’ innovative carry-over parts strategy.
“With Continental, we have gained an experienced partner, whose name stands for outstanding quality worldwide. Equally outstanding are the characteristics of the drive unit, surpassing the previous values of our prototype in many respects: the e-motor of the series vehicle comes with a higher torque (290 Nm), has significantly more horsepower (163 PS) and delivers an improved peak performance (120 kW),” said Jona Christians, Sono Motors CEO and co-founder.
“Our decision to work with Continental marks the conclusion of another important stage in the preparation of the Sion’s series production. With Continental, we have found an experienced system partner with high automotive standards who shares our enthusiasm for innovative vehicle development solutions and whose name stands for quality and the height of technology around the world,” says Roberto Diesel, CTO of Sono Motors.
The Sion has a battery capacity of 35 kWh. The optimized engine reduces the vehicle’s consumption. The hitherto communicated range of 250 kilometers has now also been confirmed in simulations in accordance with the new Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) standard as being of 255 kilometers. The choice of a front-wheel drive also further increases drive and recuperation efficiency.
The announcements already made by Sono Motors this year include its partnership with ElringKlinger in the area of battery development and production. Additionally, Sono Motors is developing an innovative and custom LED headlamp concept for the Sion together with Automotive Solutions Germany (ASG), a specialist in the development and mass production of automotive lighting systems. Sono Motors has so far received about 8,800 pre-orders for the vehicle.
[source: Sono Motors]
