Toyota has partnered with NEDO, a Japanese R&D organization, and Sharp, a Japanese electronics company, to commence public road trials of electrified vehicles equipped with high-efficiency solar batteries. Toyota installed modularized versions of Sharp's solar battery cells on the roof, hood, rear hatch door, and other parts of its Prius PHV. NEDO will partake in evaluating the technological and environmental aspects of the project.
Toyota has certainly been preparing for this development, given that its most recent patent application in the Thin Film Photovoltaics sector is directed to a CIS solar battery. In fact, the document mentions that the "ability to manufacture a flexible thin-film solar battery is useful in that the solar battery can be installed in any location such as the surface of an automobile or an airplane where installation has been difficult." Sharp, on the other hand, has a much larger patent portfolio in this sector which is not surprising since its focus is on electronic products. We will be keeping an eye on them and the other players in the race to the first solar-powered cars.
