The concept of having a solar roof on an electric vehicle is pretty neat one (albeit not terribly practical), especially in an EV that, in theory ,could drive on its own. To that end, Panasonic is pushing to make that option a more compelling value proposition – no easy task to be sure.
Still, even if the company can make the added cost reasonable, the “green cred factor” goes off the chart, so we feel many would opt for the feature.
Solar roof…not just for houses anymore?
Originally, the Toyota Prius hybrid in 2009 and Nissan LEAF in 2010 had small solar module options, but only for auxiliary/12V battery charging purposes.
In the past, placing solar modules on the roof of a car was difficult from technical point of view, as the installation was relatively expensive, and didn’t provide much power.
However technology advances, and in 2017 we welcome the first series produced car, the Toyota Prius Plug-In (aka Prime) with Panasonic’s 180 W solar array on the roof for traction battery charging. Today’s 180 W is more than three times the original 56 W unit found in Prius from 2009.
Shingo Okamoto, the general manager at Panasonic who was in charge of developing the technology said:
“Car roofs have the potential to become a new market for solar panels. We made history in the auto industry and in the solar industry with the sun powering mass-produced cars for the first time in the world.”
Six hours of full power, would give over 1 kWh of energy, which is not bad at all.
The concept of having a solar roof on an electric vehicle is pretty neat one (albeit not terribly practical), especially in an EV that, in theory ,could drive on its own. To that end, Panasonic is pushing to make that option a more compelling value proposition – no easy task to be sure.
Still, even if the company can make the added cost reasonable, the “green cred factor” goes off the chart, so we feel many would opt for the feature.
Solar roof…not just for houses anymore? Originally, the Toyota Prius hybrid in 2009 and Nissan LEAF in 2010 had small solar module options, but only for auxiliary/12V battery charging purposes.
In the past, placing solar modules on the roof of a car was difficult from technical point of view, as the installation was relatively expensive, and didn’t provide much power.
However technology advances, and in 2017 we welcome the first series produced car, the Toyota Prius Plug-In (aka Prime) with Panasonic’s 180 W solar array on the roof for traction battery charging. Today’s 180 W is more than three times the original 56 W unit found in Prius from 2009.
Shingo Okamoto, the general manager at Panasonic who was in charge of developing the technology said:
“Car roofs have the potential to become a new market for solar panels. We made history in the auto industry and in the solar industry with the sun powering mass-produced cars for the first time in the world.”
Six hours of full power, would give over 1 kWh of energy, which is not bad at all.
