In late February 2023, Sono Motors discontinued development of the Sion solar car. 250 employees were laid off. Money prepaid by customers for reservations – totaling around 50 million euros – was to be reimbursed as part of a repayment plan. After no financing source for repayment could be secured, the company had to file a protective shield application under insolvency law in May. Meanwhile, the U.S.-listed parent company Sono Group N.V. filed an application for self-administration with the responsible Munich District Court.
In late November, the Munich-based company announced the signing of an investor deal, still subject to conditions, with YA II PN, Ltd. (‘Yorkville’), which was intended to enable the company to restructure, end the self-administration proceedings that had been ongoing since May 2023, and continue its solar integration business. Contract execution with Yorkville was expected by the end of January 2024 – which has now indeed occurred. The Yorkville investment closed after fulfillment of the conditions precedent, including court approval of the plan and withdrawal of Sono Group N.V.’s application for provisional self-administration proceedings. The first tranche of Yorkville’s investment was finalized on February 6, 2024.
The remaining formal measures required for Sono Motors to exit its self-administration insolvency proceedings are expected to be completed by February 29, 2024. Since the beginning of the year, the Munich-based company has been implementing its new business model and new corporate structure.
Focus on Solar Bus Kit
Sono Motors’s reorientation is being led by a new management team, which includes recently appointed executives Jan Schiermeister and Denis Azhar. Both are long-time employees of Sono Motors and bring expertise in the bus, truck, and automotive industries. This goes hand in hand with the Munich-based company’s new direction: the development and delivery of the Solar Bus Kit, a retrofit product specifically designed for buses for solar integration, as well as its own solar power electronics, which are intended to enable solar integration for a variety of vehicles, including refrigerated vehicles, e-vans, and e-trucks.
“We have developed our new business model and new corporate structure with a clear focus: we are concentrating on our Solar Bus Kit while simultaneously advancing some of our other distinctive features such as our ‘MCU’ (Maximum Power Point Tracking Central Unit) – our highly efficient solar power electronics,”
said Jan Schiermeister and Denis Azhar in a joint statement.
“We look forward to working with our strong, motivated, and committed team as well as with our customers and partners to realize our mission of bringing solar technology to every vehicle. We are grateful that our community voted for the insolvency plan and has given us a chance to realize this mission.”
First reseller contract signed
With this clear focus, Sono Motors aims to expand its market position in the field of solar mobility. To achieve this goal, the Munich-based company has signed an agreement with Nova-Papír from Hungary, which will serve as the company’s first reseller for the Solar Bus Kit – with an initial sales target of 81 kits by the end of 2025. The company expects that distribution through Nova-Papír will lead to market entry in Hungary and open Eastern Europe as a promising potential market for the company’s solar technology. In the future, Sono Motors plans to sign further agreements with resellers in various countries.
