This will not just be a Prius with a solar panel in order to power the AC, according to the Nikkei. Toyota's goal is to design a completely solar-powered car, with a twist. In addition to solar panel on the car, there is also a set of solar panels for the home. The home based panels collect energy, and transfer it upon plugging the electric vehicle into the home. In the future, Toyota will want to produce a completely electric vehicle that relies solely on the solar panel mounted on the car.
The futuristic vehicle is promising to take Toyota and bring them to the forefront of automobiles being offered as ecological personal vehicles, but it will be a few years off before being available for purchase. In the interim, the plan to utilize the home as a secondary source of electricity via solar panels enables the company to use current technologies to make their vehicle operate under green power.
This step towards green vehicles is all part of the plan to boost profits in today's economic climate. This comes after recent news that Toyota has run into their first operating loss in over 70 years. The global economy is to blame to the reduction of sales which has many automakers in a pinch. Combined with the ever growing yen in the Japanese market, and you have the makings of a grave financial need. Despite all of that however, Toyota is still the leader in green technologies and has vowed not to cut back on R&D research.
The solar panel technology currently considered is already in use by the main manufacturing plants of the Lexus and Camry vehicles in order to offset their energy costs during manufacture by generating their own electricity. The solar panels roughly cover an area of 60 tennis courts and could power 500 homes. That is equivalent to a CO2 reduction of 740 tons every year. Toyota will also stand to gain when their partner Panasonic takes over Sanyo Electric, an industry leader in solar technology.
So this move by Toyota looks to really push the car giant ahead of the pack. With demonstrations of the potential for the solar panel technology, it is clear that once Toyota incorporates the new technology into their vehicles, there will be a steady decrease in the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. The performance will improve with the acquisition of the Sanyo Company by Panasonic. One should keep their eyes peeled for the new Toyota solar cars, which for know will get part of their energy from panels on you home's roof.
Will this technology be what pulls Toyota from financial trouble?
They already have demonstrated the capabilities of the systems that are using now. Combined with the new technology they hope to get, and the one, two delivery system of the current release plans, and they are poised to really take off. One can hope that other car manufactures will take Toyota's lead and develop their own iterations of green cars.
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Originally posted 2009-01-21 05:30:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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