Hyundai and Kia come together for solar energy in cars

MANILA: It has been over a hundred years now since we have been using combustion engines in our cars. Electric vehicles have been evolving in recent times, but there is still a long way to go. However, there has always been an unending source of energy that we’ve always had but never utilised it properly. Yes, it is the Sun. Solar energy is something that we can have as much as we want, but harnessing has just not been efficient enough.

And now, automakers Hyundai and Kia have come together to develop solar energy charging systems for EVs, hybrids, and even combustion engines. They believe that the technology will not only help in increasing the range of vehicles but will also result in making more fuel-efficient cars.

Hyundai Motor Group has recently been working on three different kinds of solar technologies. The first generation system will be implemented in the hybrid cars, where the solar charging will be able to charge 30%-60% of the battery in a day. This will, however, be largely dependent on the weather conditions. The second generation system will be made for the conventional internal combustion engines, where the solar panels will be integrated into transparent panoramic sunroofs. These solar panels will help in charging the vehicle’s battery along will allowing these cars to be more compliant with the emission laws.

The third generation system is still in the initial phase. It is meant for generic electric vehicles and will be installed on the roof and hood. The solar panels will maximise the EV’s overall range and performance by giving the batteries that extra juice.

Jeong-Gil Park, the executive vice president of the engineering and design division of Hyundai Motor Group said, “In the future, we expect to see many different types of electricity-generating technologies integrated into our vehicles. The solar roof is the first of these technologies and will mean that automobiles no longer passively consume energy, but will begin to produce it actively. It is an exciting development for us, designing a technology for vehicle owners to help them shift from being energy users to being energy producers”.

Hyundai and Kia are all set to introduce the first generation system by 2019 in order to improve fuel efficiency and also bring their global carbon footprint down.