by Joseph Robertson

Created on: July 26, 2008   Last Updated: May 28, 2010

The green technology transition is gaining momentum. Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota has announced it will add solar panels to some of its fleet of hybrid vehicles. The "high-end" third-generation Prius models will sport Kyocera-produced solar panels on the roof, aimed at assisting with powering the air-conditioning and other peripheral operations, freeing up battery energy to give the hybrid engines more non-combustion mileage.

The move is being reported as a "symbolic gesture", as solar energy is considered a complementary solution for powering automobiles, not a genuine fuel source, in part because the energy is hard to store.

But solar panels have been used to power cars in experimental engineering projects, and have long competed in a race in Australia.

But with more advanced battery-storage systems, the storage capacity for solar energy increases dramatically, and the new gas-battery-solar Prius hybrid could herald a new direction in automotive fueling: composite sourcing.

The composite fuel sourcing model is attractive for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the flexibility it affords drivers. Viewing fuel as a resource to produce energy, and electricity as the energy needed to power the automobile engine, could mean a revolution in the variety and flexibility of available modes of fuel sourcing for personal automobiles.

Merging gas-electric hybrid automobiles with solar power and other electricity-gathering mechanisms should help speed the transition away from combustible hydro-carbon fuels, a mounting economic and environmental imperative.

That solar power cannot be stored in sufficient amounts to facilitate an automobile journey is no longer a viable argument against the technology.

And, proposals such as that of US presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), offering $300 million to anyone who can invent the new technology that makes car batteries significantly more powerful (a vital step in reducing reliance on petroleum) could spark new directions in automotive technology innovation.

The manufacturers who most ably judge these new technologies and build the composite-fuel or even zero-combustion automotive vehicles of the future will become market leaders across the globe.

As we move toward an entirely carbon-free electricity generation and distribution system, we find the composite powering of automobiles becomes more useful and more dynamic.

The use of solar panels to assist in the hybrid powering of vehicles using some combustible fuels is a major step toward eliminating the need for combustible fuels altogether, and a landmark moment in the process of recreating our energy and transport economy.

Learn more about this author, Joseph Robertson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.