The report of Toyota's supposedly secretive effort to build a solar car originates with Japanese business paper The Nikkei, via the AP. According to their sources, Toyota has plans to incorporate solar panels on one of its cars, along with a house-mounted solar charging system. Unfortunately for those ready to hit the road with nothing but sunshine and a smile, the same sources also say it will be years before any such car takes to the streets.
Toyota's motive for pursuing a mass-produced solar-powered people mover? To re-establish its technological dominance and establish a strong foothold in a future that looks primed to be heavy with electric vehicles. It's not an entirely unrealistic vision either - an independent company has already developed a solar conversion kit for the second-gen Prius that enables the car to drive up to 20mi (32km) daily on solar power alone.
The end of 2008 was hard on Toyota, with the company posting its first sales loss, a significant $1.7 billion deficit. Already the company has implemented massive solar panels on the roof of one of its Camry plants, and uses the electricity generated to meet part of the plant's needs.
Previous reports of a solar-panel-equipped Prius being in development could lend some credibility to the rumor of secret solar development, and an avenue for preliminary testing of the technology. The roof-mounted solar panels on a near-term Prius would be for auxiliary systems such as stereo equipment, air conditioning and other relatively low-power features, rather than actual vehicle propulsion.
In the mean time, Toyota's Lexus luxury division is primed to release its new HS 250h hybrid sedan at the Detroit Auto Show, where the next-gen Prius hybrid will also make its debut
Reader Comments
Thu Jan 1 2009 3:25 PM
mburleigh8 says
Cool, I hope they can make it happen.
Thu Jan 1 2009 11:23 PM
xhsv says
AP names today’s Nikkei as the source. The funny thing is, there is no such article in today’s Nikkei, nor is there one that was published in previous days. A search of both the Japanese and English versions of the Nikkei for “Toyota” and “solar” comes up with nothing. The car doesn’t exist. The Nikkei article quoted by the AP doesn’t exist either.
What is in today’s Nikkei (sub) is a story about advances in construction technologies — of houses. It reads like this: “Homes that can use electric cars as power storage batteries is just one of the new construction technologies expected to receive attention in 2009. Such technology was jointly developed by Tostem Housing Institute Co., which belongs to JS Group Corp, Mitsubishi Corp., the Tokyo Institute of Technology and others. Their final goal is to develop a system whereby electric cars serve as a battery for homes. The cars are to be charged by solar power and less-expensive nighttime electricity, and their stored energy tapped to power homes when necessary. Such a system is seen slashing carbon dioxide emissions.” Granted, the story reads off-the-wall-ish. Don’t blame us, it’s the Nikkei’s official version. There is no Toyota mentioned anywhere. They are talking about charging a plug-in with solar panels on the roofs of houses. Big deal.
A case of too much sake last night for Yuri Kageyama-san, who wrote the article for AP?
The trouble is: The story is making headlines around the world, raising hopes for something that doesn’t exist. Not even in the news story that is quoted.
Fri Jan 2 2009 6:03 AM
xhsv says
Ralph, in this line of work research is of the utmost importance, if you can’t get things right then there is no point writing about them.
Fri Jan 2 2009 10:37 AM
I am the Doctor says
Maybe that's why he wrote the article as a 'report:'....
It's just a report of what's supposedly being done. If you read the article, you'll see it's all couched in speculative terms.
As for reporting quality, if there were no acceptable way to report rumors or possible developments before there is any hard evidence for them, there would be no preview stories, no pre-release concept stories, no spy-shot stories, etc etc
Be careful what you wish for.....
Fri Jan 2 2009 8:17 PM
xhsv says
Correct, but still if Ralph quotes the nikkei as his source and that article is about solar panels on houses being used to recharge EV's, with no mention of Toyota, its totaly misleading.
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