Sono Motors recently held its first “Celebrate the Sun” Community event. During which, the Munich-based OEM celebrated the debut of its Solar Bus Kit, a scalable B2B retrofit solution that reduces fuel consumption and inner-city greenhouse gas emissions, thereby contributing to climate protection, the company noted.
The Solar Bus Kit is optimized for the most common 12-meter public transport bus types on the European market, including Mercedes-Benz Citaro and MAN Lion City. Sono Motors will offer a complete and efficient retrofit solution for bus fleet operators who have a compelling need to reduce diesel consumption and CO2 emissions to meet their sustainability goals.

The Solar Bus Kit allows subsystems like the HVAC to be partially powered by renewable energy thereby saving fuel, CO2, and costs. The Kit can save up to 1,500 liters of diesel and up to 4 tonnes of CO2 per bus per year from the ~1.4 kW peak installation with a total size of about 8 square-meters of solar panels. Bus fleet operators stand to see a potential payback time of approximately three to four years, depending on days in operation and fuel prices.
Sono speaks!
We caught up with Laurin Hahn, co-founder and CEO of Sono Motors, to talk the reality of solar solutions for commercial vehicle applications. Check that interview out here: