Solar Technology & PV R&D News

Car manufacturing giant Toyota Motor Corp is to begin trialling later this month a new version of its Prius hybrid car, this time with up to 860 watts of thin film solar that will be able to charge its “solar battery” as it drives, and add more than 50kms to its fossil fuel-free driving range.

Toyota is testing a new version of its solar panel topped Prius. But solar energy is unlikely to ever account for more than a fraction of the electricity required by vehicles

Still a prototype, the machine could one day help curb electricity and freshwater shortages

Scientists from the Skoltech Center for Energy Science and Technology, the Institute for Problems of Chemical Physics of RAS, and the Department of Chemistry of MSU presented solar cells based on conjugated polymers and fullerene derivatives, that demonstrated record-high radiation stability and withstand gamma radiation of >6,000 Gy raising hopes for their stable operation on the near-earth orbit during 10 years or even longer. The results of the study were published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.