German solar car manufacturer Sono Group went public yesterday on Nasdaq under the ticker SEV, soaring 154.67% on its first day, with a closing market capitalization of $2.639 billion. Berenberg acted as the underwriter for this transaction.
Business Overview
Founded in 2016, Sono Group, a solar car developer, was established by four friends in a small garage in Munich, focusing on developing a disruptive solar technology and commercializing it.
The company is currently developing a model called Sion—a pure electric vehicle integrated with solar cells. The car has a range of up to 305 kilometers and can be charged via solar energy or traditional power outlets. Sono expects that under suitable conditions in Germany, solar energy can add up to 245 kilometers (152 miles) of additional driving range per week.
Sion is currently in the pre-production stage. The company launched its final prototype in January 2021 and has conducted over 18,000 test drives in 65 European cities. It plans to begin deliveries of Sion in the first half of 2023.
The company plans to produce 257,000 Sions in the future, and it is reported that Sion has currently received over 16,000 orders with deposits paid, which corresponds to approximately 300 million euros in net sales.
During the development of Sion, Sono gradually discovered that the current solar technology is not suitable for mobile applications...