Next-generation Prius to get solar panels

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Due to a demand for “green”, fuel-efficient vehicles, rumor has it that Toyota plans to offer solar panel options on its popular Prius model, due out next year. The Toyota Prius is the best selling and arguably most popular hybrid car in the U.S., and while not a totally new or original idea, this move will mark the first-ever for a major car manufacturer to delve into solar-power potential.

The roof-installed panels, which will be manufactured and supplied by Kyocera, would be able to power part of the 2-to 5-kilowatt air conditioning system. Reuters’ studies also suggest that solar panels can also allow a Prius to drive between 5 to 8 miles on solar power alone, increasing the vehicle’s fuel economy by 17 to 29 percent. However, Toyota has not made any official statement, noting that the company does not talk about future product plans.

Thus far, the technology behind solar power has yet to be regarded as a solution to auto-energy. Solar panels are expensive due to rising silicon prices and storing energy is difficult. “Even if you laid solar panels out on the entire roof of a house, you only generate enough energy to run two hair dryers,” according to Kentaro Endo, a director at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. “It’s an interesting idea, but it would be very difficult to power a whole car, even with technological advances.”

To date, Toyota has experienced huge demand for its hybrid Prius line, due to rising gas prices and customers’ reluctance to purchase larger vehicles with lesser fuel economy, while competitor car companies aim to gain traction in the marketplace with their own hybrid, electric and/or fuel-efficient models.

Since its debut in 1997, Toyota has sold over 1 million Prius models worldwide, and retains a goal of 1 million per year by 2011. The word prius is a Latin word meaning “[to go] before”. A Toyota spokesman stated that “Toyota chose this name because the Prius vehicle is the predecessor of cars to come.”