South Korean auto giants disclose solar roof charging technology for cars

Hyundai and Kia have disclosed the plans to install solar roof charging on almost all Hyundai Motor Group vehicles. An announcement made on October 31^st, the Hyundai Motor Group said that electricity generating solar panels would be incorporated onto either roof or hood of vehicles. The main aim of the solar panel is to support hybrid, internal combustion engine and battery electric vehicle with extra electrical power. As said by Hyundai this will help increasing range, fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emission. The solar roof charging systems are developed in three forms.

• The first- generation system to be launched from 2019, is developed for hybrid vehicles
• The second-generation system will be for internal combustion engine vehicles featuring semi-transparent solar roof
• The third-generation system is still under testing. This would be added to hood and roof of battery electrical vehicles.

In future, we expect to see many different types of electricity generated technologies integrated into our vehicles, Jeong-Gil Park, the Hyundai Motor Groups executive vice president of its Engineering and Design Division, stated on October 31^st. 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,Park added.