Lightyear One

Every once in a while, a project comes along that rethinks the world as we know it. The Lightyear solar car certainly belongs in this category. ManGo worked alongside Lightyear and Granstudio for the realization of this amazing car. Our role was to design, engineer and prototype all the exterior lighting units of the vehicle.

Client

Lightyear, Netherlands

Services

Research, Design strategy, Concept development, Prototyping, Design for manufacturing

UN Goal

Solar car design

Up to 12% of all European greenhouse gases are emitted by cars, a number that will increase if things remain as they are today. In addition, many countries are struggling to build infrastructure for electric cars. These problems were recognized by the TU Eindhoven’s Solar racing team. With their knowledge of solar technology, they started to develop the Lightyear One. Not long after founding the company Lightyear partnered with ManGo Product Design to assist in the design and engineering.

Automotive innovations

The exterior design of the Lightyear One is a hyper aerodynamic shell with the lowest Cx value (drag coefficient / air resistance) rated of any car in the world to date. To reach such a low drag coefficient the car was designed from the ground up to optimize the airflow the car. The roof and bonnet are fitted with five square meters of high yield solar cells. Charging the batteries on average with 12 kilometers an hour, even when driving.

Automotive lighting development

The exterior lighting units are marvels of engineering, using a minimal number of LED’s and making optimal use of lightguides. Ensuring low power consumption and thus increasing the vehicle range. Their design and materialization stand out and make them very cool features of the Lightyear One. ManGo executed the design, engineering and prototype building from start to finish for all exterior lighting units.