Solar car maker Lightyear auctioning off car parts as part of restart

Solar car maker Lightyear is auctioning off a large number of items as part of its post-bankruptcy restart. The company has a viewing until 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, where potential buyers can see the items in person. The auction is happening online.

There are over 200 Lightyear products up for auction, ranging from the Lightyear 0 Prototype solar-powered car to office chairs and 3D printing filaments. Currently, the most interest is for the prototype cars, various battery packs, and a set of Recaro seats.

The highest of 55 bids for the Lightyear 0 Prototype solar-powered car was 24,000 euros at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday. According to the auction site, the vehicle was used as a static show car. It has a “theoretic drivability” of 20 kilometers per hour and can only be charged through a laptop, which isn’t included.

The various rechargeable Li-on battery packs have between 40 and 60 bids on them, the highest being 5,200 euros for a Spark Battery pack (2x). And there’s been 62 bids on the Recaro car seats, pack of 3, with the highest being 1,600 euros.

The money raised with the auction will be used to pay the company’s creditors. Afterward, the company will continue as an entirely new business called Lightyear Technologies. All patents belonging to Lightyear and solar cell subsidiary Lightyear Layer will be transferred to the new company.

Lightyear’s first car, the Lightyear 0, only went into production with a partner in Finland in November 2022. In the end, only a handful rolled off the band because the company suddenly stopped the production of this expensive model earlier this year. A short time later, Lightyear went bankrupt.

There was still a lot of interest in the Lightyear 2. But as the bankruptcy administrator pointed out, this interest primarily concerned intention. It did not immediately generate money. When the fast-growing Lightyear ran into payment difficulties, that interest did not help, and bankruptcy became inevitable.