Report: Toyota Developing Solar-Powered Car

Toyota aims to have the first all-solar commercial car

 

Jason Mick (Blog) - January 2, 2009 10:44 AM  

                                         

Toyota, maker of the Prius, is the indisputable king of the hybrid market, for better or worse.    Despite a downturn in hybrid sales, the company continues to push ahead, looking forward to the release of its upcoming third generation Prius.

 

However, more iterative improvements may not be enough to turn around sales; Toyota may have to look to something akin to what GM did when it threw its weight behind the all-electric Volt.  In response, Toyota is considering radical new designs which could turn the car industry on its head if successful.

 

A top business daily, The Nikkei, is reporting that Toyota is developing a new vehicle which will be powered solely by solar energy.  The report was released on Thursday, and Toyota was unavailable for comment.

 

Toyota has already planning to equip some of its upcoming Prius cars with smaller solar panels to provide power to the onboard electronics, but an all-solar car would require drastically more power.  If Toyota is indeed cooking up a solar vehicle, it would have the first commercial solar concept car.

 

According to the report, the new solar car will be covered in solar cells and will also be an electric plug-in, similar to the Chevy Volt.  It can plug into household sockets to harvest energy from solar panels on the home.  However, according to the report, the automaker eventually wants to ditch the plug and make the vehicle entirely independently solar-powered.

 

The report cites Toyota's economic struggles as a key reason for pushing the solar project.  December marked the announcement of Toyota's first operating loss in 70 years, a sobering turn of events.  In the U.S. and abroad Toyota is halting work at several plants. 

 

Toyota continues to push ahead on other solar plans, though.  It is outfitting its Tsutsumi plant in central Japan, which produces Lexus luxury cars and Camry sedans, with solar panels to provide part of its operating power.  The panels, amounting to 60 tennis courts in surface space, can produce enough electricity to power 500 homes.  This amounts to big savings in power costs and emissions, says Toyota.

 

The company is well situated to take on the solar market, too due to an important partnership with Panasonic Corp., whom it has battery deals with.  Panasonic previously did not have significant solar expertise, but with the acquisition of Sanyo Electric Co., a leader in solar energy, to be finalized next year, it will have new assets to bring to the table.