Hyundai and Kia will equip cars with solar panels

Hyundai Motor Group, and more precisely Hyundai and Kia, have just presented plans to use solar panels in the near future. “Near”, i.e. not earlier than in 2019, which may well be extended by several more years. However, let’s not read the proverbial tea leaves and take a look at what speaks for such a move.

Of course, the fact that Hyundai and Kia will equip cars with solar panels does not mean that there will suddenly be some great demand for them. Their function is obviously simple and will be used to charge batteries in hybrids, fully electric cars, and even those based on gasoline, diesel or LPG. The last three applications are not very well described, but we can speculate that there will be small galvanic cells at stake that will take care of, inter alia, car lighting. The first generation of these solar panels will only go to hybrids with a traditional roof, but the revolution will come later …

In the second generation, the panels will be an integral part of the translucent roof, and in the third generation, they will also be on the hood. While there were no details about the later variants, it was announced that the first generation would be able to charge the hybrid batteries by 30% to 60% daily, depending on the weather. By parking outside in an unshaded parking lot before work, such a solution will probably save us several dozen zlotys per month. We will probably wait several months for the exact results.

Also read: New generation roadster from Tesla in new photos

Source: Engadget