Toyota to release solar charger for electric vehicles

(PhysOrg.com) — Toyota is developing a solar charging station for electric cars and plug-in hybrids, making a green technology even greener. It has also designed a battery charger for mounting inside an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid to recharge the storage batteries.

Toyota Industries Corporation’s announcement follows similar press releases in August by Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Showa Shell Sekiyu KK.

Toyota’s solar charging station will consist of solar cells capable of generating 100/200V of electricity. The station includes storage batteries to store the electricity generated until it is required to recharge electric vehicles. The station also has a communication facility to authenticate users’ identification information, and to communicate the amount of charge and other data to a remote data center. The communication system is expected to use LANs and Mobile networks.

PhysOrg