Hyundai introduces solar roof technology

Thursday, 1 November 2018

While German startup Sono Motors is promising a car covered in solar panels that looks like a car covered in solar panels (that you can see in the video above - those prices are US ones, by the way) more mainstream solar solutions would appear to be on their way as the Hyundai Motor Group has just announced plans to introduce 'solar roof' charging technology on selected Hyundai and Kia vehicles sometime 'after 2019'.

The company says electricity-generating solar panels will be incorporated into the roof or the bonnet 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 to support the vehicle's main power source, with the aim of improving mileage and reducing CO2 emissions, and will have the capability to charge the batteries of not just electric and hybrid vehicles, but also those of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, helping to improve fuel efficiency.

Hyundai will be putting solar panels on selected vehicles, starting with hybrids.

The company is developing three types of solar roof charging systems, with the first-generation system being for hybrid vehicles, while the second-generation technology brings 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 battery electric vehicles.

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Hyundai is still testing new solar technology that it will use on its pure EVs sometime in the future.

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Hyundai has developed semi-transparent solar panels that are able to be integrated into a panoramic sunroof.

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The first-generation system for hybrids features a structure of silicon solar panels integrated into a standard car roof that is capable of charging 30 to 60 per cent of the battery over the course of a normal day, depending on weather conditions and other environmental factors.

The second-generation semi-transparent solar roof for ICE vehicles will be able to be integrated into a panoramic sunroof, letting light through into the cabin, whilst charging the vehicle's battery at the same time.

The company says that the third-generation system for battery electric vehicles is still currently in testing and has currently offered up no further details on this.

'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 the Engineering and Design Division of Hyundai Motor Group.

'The solar roof is the first of these technologies, and will mean that automobiles no longer passively consume energy, but will begin to produce it actively. It is an exciting development for us, designing a technology for vehicle owners to help them shift from being energy users to being energy producers.'

EVs and conventional ICE cars have used solar charging before, but mainly just for light-duty tasks, like cooling off the interior or trickle-charging a conventional battery - such as the system offered in the previous Nissan Leaf - while systems that do more than this have typically come with an extremely high pricetag for what are very modest capabilities.

Recently Panasonic developed a 180-watt solar roof for the Japanese version of the Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid that is capable of adding up to 6km of range per day (a very good, sunny day, that is), while Elon Musk has also discussed the idea of making a solar roof optional 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 out of solar charging on an 'optimal' day, but this has yet to be verified.

Considering the size of solar panels that can be fitted on a conventional car's roof can only produce modest amounts of electricity, it remains to be seen if Hyundai's announcement is actually a practical thing or merely a marketing move. Then again, lots of small gains can quickly add up, so any move in this direction is a good thing, even for petrol-powered vehicles.