Toyota supposedly planning solar-powered car
By John Lister
A Japanese newspaper claims Toyota is planning a car powered entirely by solar power. However, recent economic developments mean the story seems questionable at best.
The Nikkei, Japan’s equivalent to the Wall Street Journal, says Toyota is currently working on a car which would get some of its power from roof-mounted solar panels, with users then topping-up by plugging it into panels fixed to their homes. The firm would then work on a car which is powered entirely by its own panels.
While it’s certainly believable that such technology could exist one day, this specific report is creating a great deal of scepticism. The Associated Press makes a point of labelling the story a third-party report and noting that the Nikkei doesn’t provide any sources. Meanwhile CNET blogger Candace Lombardi points out that there have been several reports along these lines in past months and suggests Toyota could be leaking the story to deflect attention from its poor performance.
Indeed, that’s one of the main reasons to doubt this story. Toyota recently announced its first ever operating loss and is suffering from the poor performance of the yen on currency markets. While research is always a long-term project, this is hardly the economic environment for putting resources into something that might not pay off for decades, if at all.
There’s also a drop in consumer interest in environmentally friendly cars (such as Toyota’s own Prius hybrid), partly because gas prices are easing back somewhat, and partly because the added expense of purchasing such vehicles is starting to feel like a dispensible show of principle to motorists feeling the economic pinch.
That may not last (and could certainly change several times before a solar car hits the market), but at the moment hybrid sales have halved year-on-year, a far steeper decline than in traditional petrol cars.
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January 2nd, 2009
AP names the Nikkei as the source. The funny thing is, there is no such article in today’s Nikkei, nor is there one that was published in previous days. A search of both the Japanese and English versions of the Nikkei for “Toyota” and “solar” comes up with nothing. The car doesn’t exist. The Nikkei article quoted by the AP doesn’t exist either.
What is in the Nikkei is a story about advances in construction technologies — of houses. It reads like this: “Homes that can use electric cars as power storage batteries is just one of the new construction technologies expected to receive attention in 2009. Such technology was jointly developed by Tostem Housing Institute Co., which belongs to JS Group Corp, Mitsubishi Corp., the Tokyo Institute of Technology and others. Their final goal is to develop a system whereby electric cars serve as a battery for homes. The cars are to be charged by solar power and less-expensive nighttime electricity, and their stored energy tapped to power homes when necessary. Such a system is seen slashing carbon dioxide emissions.” There is no Toyota mentioned anywhere. They are talking about charging a plug-in with solar panels on the roofs of houses. Big deal.
The trouble is: The story is making headlines around the world, raising hopes for something that doesn’t exist. Not even in the news story that is quoted.