In this new video, you see our Thermal Domain Expert — Kees explaining why Lightyear's Thermals Management System is designed in-house and how important it is for Lightyear One's efficiency.
Lightyear’s Thermals Management System is designed in-house in order to reduce the impact on the energy consumption of the vehicle. The Thermal Management System by nature interacts with many subsystems within the car, contributing to the overall performance as well as the passenger’s comfort in many different ways. It’s an important and complex system for Lightyear One as a whole.
With its two independent circuits, one with coolant and the other with refrigerant, it plays a key role in distributing heat both to and from the battery. The coolant system allows us to diffuse heat throughout the car, while the refrigerant system serves to exchange heat with the environment outside the car in order to cool things down.
The main purpose of the system is to ensure that the different parts of the car are kept at optimal working temperature and to make sure that the passenger’s comfort is optimised by cooling or heating the cabin in a quick and efficient way. This is well explained by our Thermal Domain Expert Kees Huijben in the video above.
Lightyear One’s solar roof also plays a role in improving comfort: by capturing sunlight in the summer and converting it into electricity, it prevents the car from overheating. Since it replaces the rear wind-shield, it avoids heat loss in the summer, allowing us to improve thermal performance even further.
Our holistic design, of which the Thermal Management System is an important part, allows us to offer unprecedented performance through efficiency. Which in turn translates into an electric car that supports long and comfortable road trips, without having to stop at every charging station along the way.
About Lightyear’s technology
As our world moves to more sustainable energy sources, Lightyear is driving the development of clean mobility in the automotive industry. By enabling electric vehicles to be scalable for everyone, everywhere, we will accelerate the sustainability transition and have a positive impact.
Our technology is engineered to enable a clean future. Starting from scratch and using a holistic design approach we developed an ultra energy-efficient long-range solar car. Our technology redefines performance with what truly matters: efficiency.
