Toyota Making a Solar Powered Car?
Is Toyota planning on developing a solar powered car? This article says as much.
Toyota, admittedly a leader in green auto technology, is years away from bringing this to market. But it does say something about their dedication during tough times: Toyota announced that it will slip into its first operating loss in 70 years.
Announcing a development like this could provoke a reversal of fortune.
The car itself? According to the Japanese newspaper that broke this story:
Toyota is working on an electric vehicle that will get some of its power from solar cells equipped on the vehicle, and that can be recharged with electricity generated from solar panels on the roofs of homes. The automaker later hopes to develop a model totally powered by solar cells on the vehicle, the newspaper said without citing sources.
And this news also comes as the company has outfitted one of its main plants in Japan with solar panels:
The solar panels on the roofs add up in size to the equivalent of 60 tennis courts and produce enough electricity to power 500 homes, according to Toyota. That reduces 740 tons a year of carbon dioxide emissions and is equal to using 1,500 barrels of crude oil.