How the Toyota Prius Is Upsetting The Market, With Solar Power

Toyota Prius took the automotive industry by storm when it took over the hybrid segment back in 2000. It made waves that other car makers have struggled to compete with. Even now when things look as if the playing field could become pretty even, Toyota pulls another ace from their sleeve, this time they have gone solar.

People ask me all the time if I ever get bored of writing about Prius. I usually laugh and tell them, do you think Henry Ford ever really wanted to make anything else other than a model T? Do you think Elon Musk, or Nikola Tesla, or Albert Einstein ever got bored of changing the world? While I am no Elon, Tesla, or Einstein, I am someone who does appreciate world changing technology. Prius is about to do that again.

Hot off the press

Straight from the pressroom at Toyota, there has been an announcement made to take the worlds favorite hybrid and make it even more desirable. Taking high efficiency solar cells and incorporating them into the popular plug in would not only extend the range of it, but it would also charge while driving, while sitting, and well pretty much any time the sun was beaming down on top of the hood, roof and trunk.

The road testing which is slated to start sometime this month, will set out to try and get the Prius more fuel efficient and increase the cruising range. So, what is the big deal? Think about where the industry is headed already. Prius the "before" car still can improve and test out technology on a solid base platform as other technologies develop.

This would continue to help Prius be the hybrid we all know and love, while still giving the engineers a little more time to make the right electric car of the future. Not to mention if we can prove this technology works, and works well, as battery tech improves we can then use this method to extend the range while driving even further. This will make sunny days driving even better when you can continually cruise from destination to destination without having to stop and charge.

Getting Better With Age

Could the Toyota Prius really get better? Of course it can and it has been getting better every iteration that has come forth. Not only are they engineered pretty darn well, but they becoming a very popular "drivers" vehicle. Meaning that as people begin buying up ones that no one else seems to want, there will be a following, greater than what we see today.

I am really excited about Prius making waves again. Toyota really never does disappoint when they put their minds into changing the world one car at a time.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about new Prius Technology. Check out my other story 3 Top Tire Brands You Should Consider For Your Toyota Prius to find even more ways to make that fuel sipper go the extra mile.

Also Watch 5 Things To Know About Toyota Prius Battery Maintain it Well and Click to Subscribe to Torque News Youtube Channel for Daily Toyota Prius and Automotive News.

Peter Neilson is an automotive consultant specializing in electric cars and hybrid battery technologies. He is an automotive technology instructor at Columbia Basin College. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Automotive Service Technology from Weber State University. Peter can be reached on Linkedin and at Certified Consulting.