Report: Toyota developing solar powered green car

[Zeno Swijtink]

Report: Toyota developing solar powered green car
YURI KAGEYAMA | January 1, 2009 09:38 AM EST |

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. is secretly developing a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy in an effort to turn around its struggling business with a futuristic ecological car, a top business daily reported Thursday.

The Nikkei newspaper, however, said it will be years before the planned vehicle will be available on the market. Toyota's offices were closed Thursday and officials were not immediately available for comment.

According to The Nikkei, Toyota is working on an electric vehicle that will get some of its power from solar cells equipped on the vehicle, and that can be recharged with electricity generated from solar panels on the roofs of homes. The automaker later hopes to develop a model totally powered by solar cells on the vehicle, the newspaper said without citing sources.

The solar car is part of efforts by Japan's top automaker to grow during hard times, The Nikkei said.

In December, Toyota stunned the nation by announcing it will slip into its first operating loss in 70 years, as it gets battered by a global slump, especially in the key U.S. market. The surging yen has also hurt the earnings of Japanese automakers.

Still, Toyota is a leader in green technology and executives have stressed they won't cut back on environmental research despite its troubles.

Toyota, the manufacturer of the Lexus luxury car and Camry sedan, has already begun using solar panels at its Tsutsumi plant in central Japan to produce some of its own electricity.

The solar panels on the roofs add up in size to the equivalent of 60 tennis courts and produce enough electricity to power 500 homes, according to Toyota. That reduces 740 tons a year of carbon dioxide emissions and is equal to using 1,500 barrels of crude oil.

Toyota is also likely to indirectly gain expertise in solar energy when its partner in developing and producing hybrid batteries, Panasonic Corp., takes over Japanese rival Sanyo Electric Co., a leader in solar energy, early next year.

[Braggi]

... According to The Nikkei, Toyota is working on an electric vehicle that will get some of its power from solar cells equipped on the vehicle, and that can be recharged with electricity generated from solar panels on the roofs of homes. ...

Er, um, a "portion" of the electricity needed to run the air conditioner will come from the rooftop solar plane.

... The automaker later hopes to develop a model totally powered by solar cells on the vehicle, the newspaper said without citing sources. ...

I hope to strike gold in my back yard. No need to cite sources. I really do hope to.

-Jeff

[MsTerry]

Whereabouts do you live?

I hope to strike gold in my back yard. No need to cite sources. I really do hope to.

-Jeff

[Braggi]

Whereabouts do you live?

You going to bring you pick and pan?

I was joking MsTerry, just like that article was a joke, intentional or not.

-Jeff

[MsTerry]

I was going to stake a claim. I think you still can do that, as long as you're first.

You going to bring you pick and pan?

I was joking MsTerry, just like that article was a joke, intentional or not.

-Jeff

[Hot Compost]

the Zap Zebra has a solar panel option. one of the guys at the gym, the swimming pool at Finley Park, is a manager at Zap and drove the Zebra for about a year. so I got to walk by it about 50 times. then one day he showed up and it had about a 3 foot by 4 foot solar panel on top.

the Zebra is a mini pick up truck that sells for about $10K.

Wired magazine had a good article about Zap. it did not paint Zap in a great light.

as far as the solar panel technology, the car has to sit in the sun for about a week to charge the batteries enough to support a 40 mile drive.