Toyota Prius To Include Solar Powered Air Conditioning?

Posted on July 10, 2008
Filed Under Industry News, Green Machines (hybrid and electric) |

The Toyota Prius rules the hybrid automotive segment. In fact, it sells three times as many cars as any other manufacturers’ hybrid model.

But Toyota isn’t resting on its “green” laurels. As reported recently in the Japanese daily newspaper, The Nikkei, Toyota will advance its “green” platform by offering solar-powered air conditioning in its 2010 models.

Toyota won’t confirm or deny the report, but the solar roof panels will provide two to five kilowatts of electricity, according to industry experts.

Toyota plans to purchase the panels from Japanese electronics maker Kyocera. The panels would produce approximately the same kilowatts as a rooftop solar array on a typical house.

In conjunction with industry dominance in 2007, The Prius also has a commanding hybrid sales lead through the first six months of 2008.

Toyota’s success with its hybrid has prompted the manufacturer’s promise to offer hybrids in every model in its line-up soon after 2020.

Toyota has sold more than a million Prius models over the past decade and is planning to sell a million hybrids a year sometime after 2010.

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