TOKYO -- The Toyota Motor Corporation recently revealed their new project to the public, where they plan to harness car solar power. They secretly started developing the solar power car in an effort to improve its struggling business.

However, according to The Nikkei newspaper, it will be years before the vehicle hits the market. At the moment Toyota is developing an electric car that gets only some of its power from solar panels attached to the vehicle, and can also be recharged at home. Later they plan to release a model operating solely on car solar power.

The car solar power model is part of Toyota’s efforts to expand during a global economic crisis. It appears their first semi-solar powered car idea was spurred on by Greg Johanson, owner of Solar Electric Vehicles, who added a solar roof to his hybrid Toyota Prius just over a year ago.

Here is a video on the solar powered Prius:

This December Toyota shocked Japan after announcing its first operating loss in seven decades. This was caused by the global slump, especially in the American market, and the strengthening Yen.

Despite this, with Toyota being one of the leaders in green technology, its executives stressed that they have no intention on cutting back on environmental research and development.

The leading Japanese automaker has already started powering some of its Tsutsumi plant in central Japan on solar electricity. The roof solar panels add up in size to about 3 football fields and generate enough energy to power 500 households, according to Toyota. This reduces their carbon footprint by 740 tons per year, which is equivalent to burning 1,500 barrels of crude oil.

With its partner in developing and producing hybrid batteries, Panasonic, taking over Japanese rival Sanyo -- a leader in solar energy -- early next year, Toyota is bound to gain expertise in solar energy.  This will speed up development on its car solar power project, and who knows -- perhaps we may see the first commercial solar powered car sooner than expected.

Originally posted 2009-01-07 13:49:15.

If you're interested in making your own power at home, then why don't you Try Earth4Energy For Free? Also, have a look at our in-depth Earth4Energy Review. Thanks for visiting!

• Causes Of Land Pollution And Recycling Facts Have you ever wondered if what you know about the causes of land pollution is accurate? Consider the following paragraphs and compare what you know to the latest info on the facts about solar energy. Solar energy is energy from the sun. When the sun is shining solar energy......
• Solar Lights: The Latest Technology That Saves You Money by Phineas Duru Solar lights have become popular and are lights for today and the future. We have been using energy from the sun for years, but it has only been recently that we can use this power in an efficient way. With solar lights, we are able to take......
• Small Turbine Wind Energy: Free Power For The People Small turbine wind energy is the fastest developing of any renewable energy source and technology.  Similar to how a moving car turns its alternator to charge the car battery, with wind energy the moving air spins wind turbines to generate electricity.  As the speed of the wind increases the......
• Your Green How To: Solar Power Solutions At Home Ever since the birth of our planet, the sun's energy has been used to bring life to earth.  And over the centuries man has employed this energy for a number of uses: It has been used in horticulture to grow food in greenhouses, as natural lighting in ancient Roman temples,......
• Learn About Solar Power And Its Applications by Jim Martin Understand the workings of solar power and understand how it can help us by coming in use in various energy generating applications. Where do we get solar power from and how does it work? The popularity of solar power seems undiminished even after decades of its discovery.......

• Why Choose Wind Power For Your Home Electricity Requirements? by Francis Mack The energy supplies in the earth are gradually geing used up and it's becoming more and more important to find and use alternative energy sources for industrial and domestic use. It's no wonder that so many families are choosing to use home-produced "green energy" The wind turbine......
• 6 Great Home Uses for Power Pressure Washers Power pressure washers are handy pieces of equipment for home use, and some models are made for commercial use, as well. Unless you plan on running a pressure washing business, however, you can get away with a relatively inexpensive piece of equipment that can you use to do a large......
• Looking on the bright side My husband's car needs a pretty significant repair (a new rack & pinion) and some maintenance (timing belts replaced, a couple of new tires). Those things really add up. His car is 7 years old, with less than 70K miles on it, so it's odd that it would need a......
• Anyone For Sands Macau? Las Vegas Sands is considering selling one of its Macau casinos as revenues plummet in the world's biggest gaming market.It plans to put the Sands Macao up for a bargain basement price of about US$1.3 billion (S$1.9 billion), after failing to sell its luxury shopping centres in the southern Chinese......
• If Possible, Buy Green Power From Your Utility Company. When we lived in Santa Monica, CA, we did not have the option of buying "green power" - the electric company said that everyone paid a little more for their power so they could invest in new technologies. But when we moved here, we were actually given a choice to......