Toyota is developing high-efficiency solar panels for electric vehicles

According to Toyota, these new highly efficient solar panels will substantially increase the range of electric vehicles.

The possibility of enjoying an electric car that charges itself, without the need to connect it to a charging point and using only solar energy, It is a utopian dream that will hardly come trueThis does not mean, however, that significant progress will not be made in this direction.

Toyota has just announced that it is developing high-efficiency solar panels for electric vehicles. The Japanese firm claims that these panels will be able to generate enough energy to Increase vehicle range up to 56 km per day.

The use of solar panels in Toyota vehicles is nothing new. The Prius already had this option years ago; although initially they were only capable of generating a maximum of 50 W of power, so its use was limited to operating the air conditioning fans.

Toyota has always believed that the sun can be its best ally

More recently, the Japanese firm began offering new solar panels as an option on the plug-in hybrid version of the Prius. These panels are capable of generating a maximum of 180W, which is a substantial improvement over the previous version. The energy generated by this system is now even capable of driving, albeit only a few kilometres.

For the development of these new high-efficiency plates announced by Toyota, the Japanese firm has the support of NEDO and Sharp. Together, these companies will soon begin testing to Evaluate their impact on the autonomy of electric vehicles.

According to Toyota, these new plates offer an efficiency rate of over 34 percent, which would allow generating up to 860W of power in a vehicle with them installed throughout its surface. According to Toyota, this would mean an increase in the vehicle's range of up to 56 km per day.

More efficient solar panels and greater autonomy

This new system is also capable of generating energy while the vehicle is moving, so it is not essential that it is parked outdoors for it to start working.

Toyota has no plans to equip any of its vehicles with these plates yet, but it will immediately begin carrying out the necessary efficiency tests to make a decision.