Toyota Debuts The First Solar-Powered Electric Car That Never Needs Charging

Just recently Toyota announced the launch of a new solar-powered vehicle that never needs charging. By means of a highly flexible, ultra-slim and super-efficient solar panel affixed at the top of the car, this super-vehicle is believed to able to run for about 56 kilometers without a recharge, giving it an edge over conventional electric cars, hybrid vehicles, and hydrogen-powered automobiles. Consequently eradicating the need to plug in your Electric Vehicle (EV) intermittently and embrace the world of electric cars that recharges itself on the go.

Following an interview with Toyota’s Project Manager – Koji Makino by Bloomberg, who confirmed that this electric car is one of a kind. Adding that; 

“The solar car’s advantage is that — while it can’t drive for a long-range — it’s really independent of charging facilities,”

Dubbed a unique car that could “run for ever” by Bloomberg, this technology comes to life through a partnership agreement between Toyota, Sharp, and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan. 

Notably, the Toyota Prius-prototype’s build comes with a 0.03 mm thick solar-panel sheet that spreads all over the hood and from the rear hatchback through to the roof. Providing enough reception to store a tremendous amount of solar energy. These powerful solar cells together with a durable battery of immense capacity are designed to house enough electrical energy to power the car up to 35 miles at night. Which is about 9 times more efficient than the current model at hand. 

Hence the director at the solar energy systems division of NEDO – Mitsuhiro Yamazaki, describes the experimental Toyota Prius solar car as being able to be driven to as far as 50 kilometers each day, for four days in a week without charging. In his words; 

“If the car is driven 4 days a week for a maximum of 50 km a day, there’s no need to plug into an outlet”.

In spite of the criticism towards this neoteric development such as the belief by expert analysts that this technology still needs a few more years to ‘cultivate’ as it is still in its nursing stage. Evidently, there is still a lot of work to be done in order to achieve the kind of solar power needed to efficiently fuel the solar car. 

That been said Toyota, however, surpasses this hurdle through its affiliation with Sharp. Whereas the advanced solar panels provisioned by Sharp is capable of converting sunlight efficiently at a rate of over 14% more than the average solar panels available on the market nowadays.