Lightyear partners with tire manufacturer Bridgestone and manages to launch its solar-powered electric car later this year. The tires were made exclusively for the car to reach an incredible autonomy of 725km

Tire manufacturer Bridgestone has announced a partnership with Lightyear, a Dutch vehicle company, to develop exclusive tires for the Lightyear One, the first long-range solar-powered electric car. The car's autonomy is 725 km and is scheduled to be launched at the end of 2021 in the European market.

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Meet the world's first solar-powered electric car

On the outside, the Lightyear One is all about aerodynamics. Its body features futuristic features, with solar energy panels that go from the hood to the rear. Inside, the electric car has minimalist lines, finished in fabrics and wood. It also has a digital instrument panel, a multimedia center with support for functions such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

To have such great autonomy, the vehicle has four electric motors, one on each wheel, and advanced torque vectoring. The company did not reveal many details about the electric car, but assured that the electric motors allow the model to accelerate from 0 to 100 km / h in less than 10 seconds.

The 60 kWh battery can be recharged using a charger or using solar energy. As stated before, the automaker promises a range of 725 km and, in terms of energy, an efficiency three times greater than the electric cars that are currently on the market.

Lightyear One tires promise to improve your range

To achieve all this feat in autonomy, even the electric car's tires are made in a special way. The Turanza Eco tires, designed by Bridgestone, offer low rolling resistance and have a lower weight, so that battery life is preserved and the vehicle guarantees greater economy. In order to reduce the weight of the tire, technologies such as Enliten and Ologic were used.

According to the manufacturer, the set of tires reduces almost 100 kg of the electric car, without reducing the durability of the tire. To develop the tires for the electric car, the company used Virtual Tire Development technology, which allows for more accurate modeling of a tire's performance without having to physically test it.

Bridgestone technical director speaks

According to Emilio Tiberio, technical and operations director at Bridgestone, Lightyear has been impressing with its electric car ever since he saw it take on the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (an event that features a 3 km race in the Australian desert).

Therefore, Bridgestone is committing itself to a reduction of approximately 50% in CO2 emissions by the year 2030. He states that strategic partnerships such as the one with the company that developed the solar electric car are essential for these goals to be achieved. .