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Toyota Working On Secret Solar Powered Car

Toyota Prius picture

“Toyota Motor Corp. is secretly developing a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy in an effort to turn around its struggling business with a futuristic ecological car, a top business daily reported Thursday. The Nikkei newspaper, however, said it will be years before the planned vehicle will be available on the market. ” [Link]

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.

I find this very hard to believe. Solar energy as top-up? Sure. There just isn’t enough energy from the sun falling on a car roof, even assuming PV cells with 100% efficiency, to power much more than a light bulb.

well, as much as I’d love this technology to work I have a feeling the hydrogen hybrid cars are going to pip them. I watched a tv programme on them a few weeks ag and I was very impressed with what I saw

The future in automotive industry belongs to electric cars for sure. Toyota seems to give a lot of interest in this direction (name it hybrid). It is not a surprise for me that such plans for a secret solar car really exist.

The solar panles will only feed some devices from the car. Its is more a marketing campaign that a real solution.