Toyota Solar Power Charger
One of the problems to having a solar powered, hybrid car is the lack of available recharging stations around the city. Now it seems, Toyota is able to work on a solution for this, by coming up with this charging station, specifically for plug-in hybrids. The changing station even includes a mounting area for battery recharge. And mind you, this charging station is solar-powered.
The announcement of this newest innovation was made at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show which began in Chiba City in Japan last week.
The charger will at least 10,000 yen and will be up for sale by early next year.
The details of this follows after the cut…
From Physorg:
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.
Earlier this year Toyota Industries unveiled a new public charging station for electric vehicles, which went on sale a few months ago at a cost of 450,000 Yen (around 4,600USD). Both the earlier public charging station and the new solar charging system were developed in collaboration with Nitto Kogyo Corporation.
A variety of charging station options is needed to address the potential range limitations of electric vehicles, and a significant network of charging stations will need to be deployed to make electric vehicles viable for longer distance travel. Virtually all major car manufacturers are planning to launch electric or plug-in hybrid cars starting next year.
Charging stations for electric cars are gradually becoming more widespread. In the UK the Department of Transport estimates there will be about two million electric vehicles by 2020. In the US, SolarCity and Rabbobank have created a partnership to provide free electric charging for electric vehicles traveling between San Francisco and Los Angeles along Highway 101. SolarCity has also bought SolSource Energy, which is in the business of installing charging stations for electric cars.
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Tags: battery recharge, car manufacturers, charging station, charging system, chiba city, communication facility, communication system, department of transport, electric cars, electric vehicles, hybrid car, mobile networks, physorg, plug in hybrid cars, plug in hybrids, solar cells, storage batteries, tokyo motor show, two million, yen
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