Jona Christians is one of the three co-founders of Sono Motors, together with Laurin Hahn and Navina Pernsteiner. The company set out to build the Sion, an electric car with solar cells in its body. It began as prototype work in Munich and was formally founded as Sono Motors GmbH in 2016.
Funding came from future drivers. The 2016 Indiegogo campaign raised €549,995 from 1,686 backers, and a Seedrs round added €1.8 million. In July 2017 two prototypes were shown. A community round in 2019 and 2020 pledged €53.3 million, and about 13,000 Sion reservations had been taken by January 2020.
In November 2021 the parent company, Sono Group N.V., went public on NASDAQ and raised about $135 million. Production was moved to Valmet in Finland in 2022, and the team ran a #savesion campaign for more pre-orders.
The Sion was cancelled in February 2023. Insolvency in self-administration followed in May 2023. After a restructuring, the application was withdrawn in January 2024, and the business turned to solar technology for buses and trucks. In 2025 that business used the SonoSolar brand.