Breaking News

JCB Phone Launches New Rugged Smartphone Range to Power Global Expansion Sharkoon announces SKILLER SGK50 Wood Series TAMRON announces Ultra Wide-Angle 16-30mm F2.8 G2 Zoom Lens New Lexar ES5 Magnetic Portable SSD is A Game-Changer for Creators On-the-Go COLORFUL Launches iGame GeForce RTX 5050 Series Graphics Cards

logo

  • Share Us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
  • Home
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Essays
  • Forum
  • Legacy
  • About
    • Submit News

    • Contact Us
    • Privacy

    • Promotion
    • Advertise

    • RSS Feed
    • Site Map

Search form

Toyota Tests Solar-powered Prius

Toyota Tests Solar-powered Prius

Enterprise & IT Sep 12,2019 0

A project led by Toyota Motor is experimenting with a sun-powered Prius that it hopes will one day require no power plugging in.

In the Japanese government-funded demonstration project, Toyota engineers fitted solar panels designed by Sharp to the hood, roof, rear window and spoiler to see how much solar energy can generate.

The electricity from the panels goes directly to the drive battery, so the Prius can charge while moving or when parked.

On a good day, the charge can be sufficient for up to 56 kilometers of travel.

But the performance drops off quickly if it is cloudy or even when it’s too hot. If used in real-world driving in those conditions, the Prius would have to be plugged in to recharge.

The solar cells are just 0.03 millimeters thick, making them malleable enough to form-fit to the body of a car. The engineers needed to create a buffer between the car and the cells to protect them, so the actual solar panel modules are closer to a centimeter thick.

The trunk of the car is filled with batteries for the solar panels, adding an extra weight of around 80 kilograms (180 lb).

Satoshi Shizuka, Toyota’s lead engineer on the project, said that commercialization of the conceot likely remaines “years away”.

Tags: Toyota
Previous Post
Tesla Tests Model S With a Faster ‘Plaid’ Powertrain
Next Post
Intel to Show 3D tracking, Other New Tech at Olympic Games Tokyo 2020

Related Posts

  • Toyota, NTT Team up on Developing Smart City Platform

  • Toyota and Hino to Develop Heavy-Duty Fuel Cell Truck

  • Autonomous Driving Startup Pony.ai Raises $400 Million from Toyota

  • Toyota and Panasonic to Establish Joint Venture Specializing in Automotive Prismatic Batteries

  • Toyota to Build Prototype City to Test Automated, Connected, Shared and Electrified/hydrogen Research

  • Toyota Showcases Improved T-HR3 Humanoid Robot

  • Chinese BYD, Toyota to Establish Joint Company for Battery Electric Vehicle Research and Development

  • Toyota Showcases the Futuristic Lexus LF-30 Concept

Latest News

JCB Phone Launches New Rugged Smartphone Range to Power Global Expansion
Smartphones

JCB Phone Launches New Rugged Smartphone Range to Power Global Expansion

Sharkoon announces SKILLER SGK50 Wood Series
PC components

Sharkoon announces SKILLER SGK50 Wood Series

TAMRON announces Ultra Wide-Angle 16-30mm F2.8 G2 Zoom Lens
Cameras

TAMRON announces Ultra Wide-Angle 16-30mm F2.8 G2 Zoom Lens

New Lexar ES5 Magnetic Portable SSD is A Game-Changer for Creators On-the-Go
Smartphones

New Lexar ES5 Magnetic Portable SSD is A Game-Changer for Creators On-the-Go

COLORFUL Launches iGame GeForce RTX 5050 Series Graphics Cards
GPUs

COLORFUL Launches iGame GeForce RTX 5050 Series Graphics Cards

Popular Reviews

be quiet! Light Loop 360mm

be quiet! Light Loop 360mm

be quiet! Dark Mount Keyboard

be quiet! Dark Mount Keyboard

Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 - 360

Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 - 360

be quiet! Light Mount Keyboard

be quiet! Light Mount Keyboard

Soundpeats Pop Clip

Soundpeats Pop Clip

Noctua NH-D15 G2

Noctua NH-D15 G2

Crucial T705 2TB NVME White

Crucial T705 2TB NVME White

be quiet! Light Base 600 LX

be quiet! Light Base 600 LX

Main menu

  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Essays
  • Forum
  • Legacy
  • About
    • Submit News

    • Contact Us
    • Privacy

    • Promotion
    • Advertise

    • RSS Feed
    • Site Map
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Promotional Opportunities @ CdrInfo.com
  • Advertise on out site
  • Submit your News to our site
  • RSS Feed