Toyota Developing Solar-Powered Car

Toyota's Prius is already the runaway leader of hybrid vehicles, but now the automaker is setting its sights on another technology: solar power.  A Nikkei newspaper is reporting that Toyota is developing a vehicle that gets some of its power from solar panels, with the ultimate goal of building a car that can be run completely on solar energy.

The first of the two vehicles would only be partially solar-powered, and Toyota wants to ensure it can be recharged at homes generating electricity from solar panel roofs.  It will be several years before such a vehicle is ready for production.  The second car, which Toyota envisions as a completely solar-powered car, is even further off.

Toyota will likely gain access to additional solar power technology this year when Panasonic Corp., its partner in developing and producing hybrid batteries, acquires Sanyo Electric *** a leader in solar energy.

Toyota already uses solar panels on the roofs of its Tsutsumi plant in central Japan to produce some of its electricity.  The panels cover an area equivalent to 60 tennis courts, and produce enough electricity to power 500 homes-the same as using 1,500 barrels of crude oil.  By using the solar panels, Toyota hopes to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 740 tons each year.