Thanks to their ever-increasing battery capacity, improvements to overall range, and the proliferation of charging infrastructure across the globe, the chances of one getting stranded in an electric car are decreasing every single day. Despite these advancements, however, there is no denying that range anxiety remains an issue among EV users . German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz, seemingly, is working on a new technology that will not only increase the range of future battery-electric cars but will also further reduce the ever-pervasive range anxiety problem.
The company's way around this problem, however, is a bit different. Instead of relying simply on larger, higher capacity, and more efficient batteries , Mercedes-Benz's Research and Development team is working on a new type of solar module that could integrate into the body of future cars, turning them, effectively, into a solar panel on four wheels . It is not like this idea hasn't already been tried, as some, might, remember the axed Lightyear 0, solar car .
What makes these "in development" solar panels different from the current crop of photovoltaic cells is their extremely thin nature. Besides making them significantly less bulky than today's solar panels, these panels are thin enough to be integrated into the outer paint coating of the car, thereby earning them the name "solar paint." Under normal circumstances, the first point of discussion when talking about solar panels is their capacity, efficiency, and cost.
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