Toyota to Go Bold In Bid to Revive Flagging Sales
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 01. 2.09
Toyota Goes Bold
Even Toyota, the maker of the much revered Toyota Prius, has been unable to escape the fallout from the economic downturn. In fact, Toyota just posted its first operating loss in 70 years, and the company is responding with bold plans for innovative new vehicles. For instance, we've known for a while that Toyota has been planning a solar-assisted Prius (a hybrid vehicle with a rooftop solar panel to help power onboard electronics). Now, however, there are reports that "Toyota Motor Corp. is secretly developing a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy." Read on for more.
This news comes after previous announcements by Toyota that they are developing a plug-in version of the Prius. The solar Prius appears to be Toyota's version of the Chevy Volt--a bold new design aimed at stimulating sales and positioning the company as an innovative leader.
A Truly Solar Powered Car?
At the moment, "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." However, the plan is to eventually "develop a model totally powered by solar cells on the vehicle" according to the Nikkei newspaper. That said, it isn't clear if it's even possible for rooftop arrays to power an entire car given the efficiency of current solar cells and the limited surface area on a vehicle. Most likely, the solar cells will augment electric power from a wall outlet and/or gasoline.
Still, Toyota is well positioned to leverage the latest in solar technology, thanks to a partnership with Panasonic Corp, which makes hybrid batteries but is also about to take over Sanyo Electric Co, "a leader in solar energy." And if vehicle sales don't start picking up, Toyota-and other automakers--will be forced to turn to innovation to revive sales. Hopefully that innovation will come in the form of efficiency, because the alternative is for automakers to find innovative ways to entice people to buy existing models--which seems to be GM's sole strategy at the moment.
Via: Yahoo News
More on Toyota
Toyota Prius Hybrid: 1 Million Served
Toyota to Boost Prius Hybrid Production by 70% Next Year
Toyota iQ: The Smallest Four-Passenger Car in the World
Toyota and EDF Testing Plug-in Prius in UK
Bigger Than 4 Football Fields: Toyota Completes 242,000 Square Feet Solar Power Array
Smart move. Solar cells have tumbled in price over the last few years and this is a bit of a no brainer for a true electric. It may not be able to power the whole car just yet, but it will extend the range on plugins. Limited range has always been the bugaboo that's given people reservations about all electrics. Even if the solar input only extends range 5-10 miles, combined with other innovations, the range inches closer and closer to range of a gas powered car.
A EV uses about 250-300 Watt-Hours per mile traveled. A square meter of solar panels might only generate 800 watt-hours a day in the best case scenario.
I'll believe it when I see the plug-in model for sale at my local dealership first.
Unfortunately, GMs strategy is right. Consider the following:
New product development from prototype to showroom floor takes a minimum of 5 years, and usually takes much longer than that. For example, the Ford Probe was a concept car for about 5 years, then it took another 5 years between the final concept and production. The volt by contrast, was first demonstrated in 2007 and is expected to be released in 2010. This is an example of a product that's getting fast-tracked.
Now, let's consider how long this recession will last.
The maximum duration of any recession since the 1800s was the Depression, clocking in at 10 years. There hasn't been a recession longer than 2 years since then, largely due to better understanding and management of recessions by the government.
So either Toyota's decision to innovate themselves out of their loss is not actually what they're doing, or it's a snap decision made based on emotion rather than reason. Alternatively, it has as more to do with how Japan's economy has been in a recession for an extended period of time, exacerbating their problems.
At any rate, I'd expect them to innovate some cheaper cars, rather than greener ones.
Ernie makes some good points, however, I suspect that the flailing economy will not only spur the development process into what we call in the software industry "rapid development", and Toyota is undoubtedly more than a few months into the planning process, already. It is my hope that the new presidential administration will make energy independence more compelling (dare I say profitable?) and the worldwide populace will become ever more insistent on more fuel efficient and fossil fuel independent vehicles. I like to think that we have turned a corner and will not go back to the same complacency that we experienced after the gas shortages of the 80's.
it doesn't matter that the solar cells will not independently power the car in-motion. many trips are for a few short miles and then the car sits there for several hours. this is a perfect way to keep the batteries topped-up for free. anyone want to do a quick calc on how many miles a rooftop panel can add to a car if it gets 8 hours of sunshine (between am/pm commutes). of course, now you'll want to park your car in the sun! so, can't these cars come equipped with retractable windshield and rear-window shades that also have solar cells in them? that would double the surface area for solar collection.
more importantly, it pushes the energy efficiency feature of cars because buyers will be looking to reduce the time they need to be plugged in. can you imagine manufacturers advertising their cars by how many "free" miles their car can drive on an eight-hour sun charge. 8, 10, 20? live less than 10 miles from work and there's no plug-ins needed all week. of course, if you live less than 10 miles from work, you really should be in a bicycle!
Ernie: GM is a dinosaur on the verge of extinction. They make awful cars that have to be sold at a loss otherwise no one would touch one. Do you honestly think their sales will rebound to their prior levels after the recession?
Also, it's quite possible that auto sales for the entire industry will take longer to recover even when the US eventually comes out of recession, which I'm willing to bet will be longer than two years.
"because the alternative is for automakers to find innovative ways to entice people to buy existing models--which seems to be GM's sole strategy at the moment."
an outright lie... gm is doing nothing innovative to entice people to buy their shitty cars...
ok, i found something: approximately 20 miles on a 6 hour charge of full sun (difficult but possible) based on a recent aftermarket option:
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/05/31/putting-a-solar-roof-on-your-prius-go-20-miles-on-battery-powe/