Honda Tests Solar Strategy for New Electric Vehicles

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Japanese car manufacturer Honda Motor says it hopes to go a deeper shade of green with its next generation of electric vehicles and solar rechargeable stations. The company gave news media a preview of the new technology on Monday with a demonstration at its research facility on the outskirts of Tokyo. Here's that report.

Honda Motor says it's looking to create a solar energy-based transportation system to support its two and four-wheeled electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. It's a lineup the company calls "personal mobility."

It's conducting a series of tests with the local government of Saitama, Japan. Honda hopes to establish the viability of its electric vehicles and solar-powered recharging stations for everyday use on a national scale.

The slick 10 kilowatt solar-panel-roofed station, which can power four EVs simultaneously for a day of use, was designed by Honda for its EV lineup. Even the solar panels are made by Honda.

[Sachito Fujimoto, Senior Chief Engineer, Honda]:
"This is a solar-powered station, a part of our experiments, that recharges EVs with the electricity generated here. It takes less than six hours to fully charge an EV using 220-volts, enabling the vehicle to run up to 100 miles or 160 kilometers."

Fujimoto said a smart-phone application that monitors the vehicle's power capacity also adds convenience to drivers.

Among other things, the phone can display a map which will show a driver how far the vehicle can drive on its remaining battery charge and will search for the nearest recharging station. The phone will then forward the information to the vehicle's on-board computer which will then guide the driver to the station.

[Sachito Fujimoto, Senior Chief Engineer, Honda]:
"Using a smart phone, drivers can check the remaining power in the batteries or reachable distance with it."

A new plug-in two-wheeler the "EV-neo" and a motorcart, "MONPAL ML200" were also unveiled. They too will be rechargeable using the same system.

Honda's CEO hopes the test project will secure Honda's green credentials.

[Takanobu Ito, CEO, Honda]:
"Based on the result of this experiment, putting together with Honda's two-wheel, four-wheel and motorcart technologies, and enabling households to be able to generate and store electricity to recharge vehicles with high efficiency, Honda will pursue its 'total power management' scheme."

Honda will take its experiments to the U.S. and China as a part of its scheme early in the New Year.

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Autos & Vehicles

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• solar
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• Saitama
• Japan
• EVs
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• refuel
• EV-neo
• MONPAL ML200
• Takanobu
• Ito
• motorcart
• electricity
• U.S.
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[pvelectric]

@KOmaSHOOTER Honda now manufactures solar panels. Also in L.A. their fuel cell city used electric fleet cars, are made from solar panels which produce the hydrogen to run the electric fuel cell vehicles!

[diditnovianto]

how much yen that kind of car?

[KOmaSHOOTER]

Why has the car no solar panels on the roof?

[JasonGorr]

This is awesome, I love it! Canada MUST catch up, we're falling behind! Our rail system is an embarrassment and we need electric cars!!

[hondaspeed152]

go honda!!