Confirmed: Toyota To Offer Solar Panel-Powered Prius In 2009
In a Nikkei article set to publish Monday, it was revealed that Toyota has green lit plans to offer solar panels on its popular Prius hybrid vehicle. The solar panel option will be available on the high-end Prius model when it receives a redesign in 2009. Strangely, the Japanese business newspaper also reports that the power generated by the solar panels will be used for the air conditioning system. The solar panels are being manufactured by Kyocera Corp. Previously, Gizmodo has covered some DIY solar panel options for the Prius, but the news today confirms that an official offering is now forthcoming from Toyota. It’s a start, right? [Reuters]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Um, the company has specifically said that it won’t confirm this.. so, this article is incorrect.
so its not real?
btw, when are they going to sell a full electric vehicle? hybrids are good but they still require some petrol. sometimes i think car makers are bribed by oil companies so that we will continue using petrol
sas, you are correct that hybrids are essentially a ransom we’re paying to the car manufacturers and Big Oil. We had fully functioning electric cars in California during the early 90s under a program that General Motors set up to fail.
Hybrids were something of a “deal” between the Clinton administration, auto makers, and oil companies and was also intended to fail. The reason hybrids have been appearing in the last few years is because Japanese auto makers at the time thought this would impact sales of vehicles and wanted to compete with the US. They didn’t get the memo about hybrids being a joke here in the States.
Still, hybrids are better than nothing at this point.