Toyota to Add Solar Panels to the Prius Hybrid
July 7, 2008
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A source at Toyota said today that the company will be putting solar panels on the roofs of future Prius hybrids cars to help drivers further cut their carbon footprint. This is another step from Toyota to respond to high oil prices that are driving up the cost of car ownership.
The panels will be supplied to Toyota by Kyocera Group and are expected to power the air conditioning units in higher end models.
However, the solar panels are really more of a symbolic gesture on a car already seen as the symbol of people trying to reduce their carbon footprint and fight global warming. Solar power is generally not seen as a solution to power cars, as the costs of the panels is too high, largely due to high prices for silicon, and with current technology the panels will not be able to provide enough power.
This is the not the first attempt to put solar panels on a car in a effort to fight global warming. In the 1990s, Mazda had a car fitted out with solar panels but they did not provide much energy and thus did not generate many sales for the company. The car was discontinued after a few years.
With high oil prices, demand for Toyota’s Prius is outstripping supply and the company is scrambling to increase production as more and more customers want to cut their carbon footprint and their gas bills.
The Prius was first launched in 1997 and has since sold over 1 million units cumulatively. Toyota has the goal of selling 1 million annually by the start of the next decade. This would be a big boost to the company’s sales and their efforts to help their customers reduce their carbon footprint.
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