Mercedes-Benz has recently announced the successful development of a solar-absorbing exterior paint specifically for electric vehicles, with the ability to capture solar energy and feed it back into the battery.
Since 2022, the German automaker has been testing this solar paint technology on its Vision EQXX concept car. Initially, the company experimented with a 1.8-square-meter solar paint area on the EQXX’s roof and hood. Encouraged by the positive results, Mercedes-Benz’s research and development (R&D) engineers decided to coat the entire vehicle with this new paint, yielding impressive outcomes.
As a result, the test vehicles will be painted with two layers of paint on their entire body. The outer layer is a nano-paint coating that allows 94% of solar energy to reach the photovoltaic coating underneath.
The inner layer is a solar paint. This photovoltaic material is in a paste form and is applied to the body panels with a thickness of just 5 micrometers, thinner than a human hair. Coating this material on a mid-size SUV will create a solar-absorbing surface of approximately 11 square meters. This is more than three times the area of a conventional flexible roof panel, typically measuring 3 square meters.
According to Mercedes-Benz, this photovoltaic paint does not contain rare earth materials or silicon and utilizes readily available, non-toxic raw materials. Each body panel will be electrically isolated and connected to a power converter. This converter will transmit electricity to the battery or directly to the motor.
The company’s experts estimate that a vehicle using this solar paint technology could absorb enough energy to travel approximately 47 kilometers per day and 20,000 kilometers per year in Los Angeles. On average, a car travels about 22,000 kilometers per year. So, in sunny locations, owners would rarely need to plug in their vehicles.
In the weather conditions of Germany, this paint could absorb enough energy to enable the car to travel an average of 32 kilometers per day.
Despite being hailed as a breakthrough idea, Mercedes-Benz acknowledges that solar paint technology is still in the development phase and requires further research. The company has not yet disclosed a timeline for implementing this technology into mass production.
TH (Tuoitrethudo)
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