Toyota to install solar panels on cars

Toyota has plans to install solar power units on the roof of its already highly fuel efficient Prius hybrid range of vehicles.

The new version of the popular gas sipper is expected to be unveiled next spring.

Toyota would then have bragging rights to the first ‘real’ car with solar power capabilities.

The company has seen sales of the Prius mushroom recently as people turn away from the gas guzzling SUVs and big engined cars.

The panels will not actually power the car, they will instead give out around five kilowatts which will be used to power the vehicle’s air conditioning system.

Toyota is looking to ship nearly half a million of the new cars in Japan alone during 2009.

Other new initiatives will include further reductions in the vehicle’s weight to aid in decreasing fuel consumption even further.

A company spokesperson referred to the solar panels as a ‘symbolic gesture’, as obtaining any significant amounts of power from such a small solar panel is not practical, and with the current technology it will never be possible to run a car on solar power.

Way back at the beginning of the 90’s the Eunos 800 from Mazda had solar panels fitted, but it died out as an option fairly quickly, but fuel then cost a fraction of what it does 15 years later, which may make this new addition popular with today’s motorists.