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While German startup Sono Motors is interested in solar panels that are more likely to be covered in solar panels, more mainstream solar solutions would appear to be Hyundai Motor Group has just announced plans to introduce "solar roof" charging technology on Hyundai and Kia vehicles sometime "after 2019".
The company says electricity-generating solar panels will be incorporated into the roof or hat of vehicles, and will support internal combustion, hybrid and battery electric vehicles with additional electrical power.
Hyundai says that the solar charging technology is being developed with the help of reducing CO2 emissions, and will have the ability to charge the batteries, but also those of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, helping to improve fuel efficiency.
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Hyundai will be putting solar panels on selected vehicles, starting with hybrids.
The company is developing three types of solar roofing systems, with the first-generation system being for hybrid vehicles, while the second-generation technology provides a semi-transparent solar roof system to ICE vehicles. The third generation of the technology will see the introduction of a lightweight solar roof for electric vehicles.
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The first-generation system for hybrid solar panels has a structure that is capable of charging 30 to 60 percent of the battery over the course of a normal day, depending on weather conditions and other environmental factors.
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Hyundai is still testing new solar technology that will be used on its pure EVs sometime in the future.
The second-generation semi-transparent solar roof for ICE vehicles will be able to be integrated into a sunroof, letting light through the cabin, while charging the vehicle's battery at the same time.
The company claims that the third-generation system is still being tested and has not yet been developed.
"In the future, we expect to see many different types of electricity-generating technologies integrated into our vehicles," said Jeong-Gil Park, Executive Vice President of Engineering and Design Division of Hyundai Motor Group.
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Hyundai has developed semi-transparent solar panels that are able to be integrated into a sunroof.
"The solar roof is the first of these technologies, and it is not intended that these vehicles will be used in the future. energy users to be energy producers. "
EVs and conventional SUVs have used solar charging before, but especially just for light-duty tasks, like cooling off the inside or trickle-charging This is a very important feature of this country.
Recently Panasonic developed a 180-watt solar roof for the Japanese version of the Toyota Prius Prime hybrid plug-in that is capable of adding up to 6km of range per day, while Elon Musk has also discussed the idea of making a solar roof for the Tesla Model 3, but later backed away from it.
German start-up Sono Motors has been pushing its solar-panel-covered Sion EV for some time now, claiming to be able to get an additional 30km range of solar charging on an "optimal" day, but this has yet to be verified .
Considering the size of solar panels that can be fitted to a standard size of electricity, it remains to be seen if Hyundai's advertising is actually a practical thing or merely a marketing move. Then again, lots of small wins can quickly add up, so any move in this direction is a good thing, even for petrol-powered vehicles.
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