It must have been a very difficult day for the two founders Laurin and Jona. At the end of February, the directors of Sono Motors announced the definitive end of the Sion solar car. The main reason was lack of funds and investors’ unwillingness to invest in order to start pre-production. And this despite the fact that 45,000 people had already reserved a Sion. The special thing about the solar car project was undoubtedly the large community. With several crowdfunding campaigns, money was raised again and again for the further steps. To keep the community informed about the latest developments, Sono Motors hosted regular livestreams.
“Journey of 2020” as the first livestream collaboration between Sono Motors and Stream1.
We have implemented various livestreams and other live projects for Sono Motors in recent years. 2020 there was the first order for us. Themed “Journey of 2020”, the progress of 2020 and the prototype were shared via a suitable seminal communication channel: Livestream. As a special feature, we connected several participants via vMix at pandemic peak times, thus enabling interesting dialogs despite distance. The speakers in the studio in Munich were broadcast in best quality with our 3 professional PTZ cameras. With the help of stinger crossfades, we brought the different parts together to create an appealing overall image.
Livestream to CES 2021 in Las Vegas
However, this was only the beginning of the joint journey with Sono Motors. As a full service agency, we create numerous film contributions and short interludes for the start-up. One of the most significant livestreams and always unforgettable for us was the car presentation at the legendary tech show CES 2021 in Las Vegas. Through Corona, the fair did not take place on site, but became a digital event. Sono Motors presented its solar car to potential investors and also answered questions from trade show attendees. All purely digital via a livestream. We streamed the event on 3 channels at once: for trade fair participants on the official trade fair website, for employees in an internal Zoomcall and on Youtube for fans of the brand.
Live to CNBC and Fox News: Sono Motors goes public
Another highlight was the IPO at the end of 2021. In doing so, Sono Motors chose the U.S. tech exchange NASDAQ for the company’s first IPO. To capitalize on the launch attention, the founders planned several live broadcasts to American television. Once again participating as a technical provider: Stream1. In addition to Spiegel and Deutsche Welle, major American TV stations like CNBC and Fox News interviewed the two founders. In the popular “Power Lunch” on CNBC, Jona Christians and Laurin Hahn explained why they deliberately went public in the USA and not, say, in Germany. This is because the bureaucratic hurdles in America are significantly lower and, moreover, people in the USA are more open to new technologies.
The final end for the Sion solar car
The last livestream about the solar car Sion took place at the end of February. And as usual, the Sono team dealt with the situation in an open and transparent way and held a hybrid community event because of it. The two founders Laurin and Jonas explained to viewers on site at Sono’s production facility as well as via a stream on Youtube the motives for discontinuing the Sion program. The interest was huge, we counted over 1,000 participants on Youtube.
