According to The Nikkei, Toyota is working on an electric vehicle that will get some of its power from solar cells equipped on the vehicle, and that can be recharged with electricity generated from solar panels on the roofs of homes. The automaker later hopes to develop a model totally powered by solar cells on the vehicle, the newspaper said without citing sources.
They mention that Toyota is struggling. They are the richest of all the automakers, and for the first time in 70 years have posted a loss. I don't consider Toyota to be struggling. They are however paving the way in alternate powered mass produced vehicles. Solar power is still in its infancy. It has its draw backs and limitations. At least at this point, its nothing but a back up power source. If it were used in conjunction with batteries, and solar power on a house, then it could turn into something. A Prius that plugs into the homes solar grid, and is used to charge and store power. Those times when a houses demands are low, then the car would charge. When the demands are high, then the car acts as a backup source of power.
There was an article recently about some people using their Toyota Prius or Honda Insight as a backup power source during power outages. Honda was questioned about it, and they said that the batteries in the cars were not designed for this kind of use. Rather someone should buy a Honda generator, which is designed to provide backup power.
Source: Yahoo
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