Fuyao's solar glass sunroof for EVs is ready for mass production

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Reports tied a solar roof option to two of BYD’s models.

Several brands have tested solar roofs, Nissan among them.

Nissan says its Ariya concept panels can add up to 14 miles a day.

Every EV engineer on the planet is currently chasing the same goal, which is more range without more battery, and the answers keep arriving from unexpected corners of the industry. The latest one comes from a Chinese glass supplier in the form of a solar glass sunroof that its maker says is finished, validated and ready for mass production.

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The company is Fuyao Group, one of the largest automotive glass producers on earth, counting Ford, General Motors, Subaru, Tesla and the VW Group among its customers. That client list matters more than the technology demo itself, because Fuyao isn’t some startup trying to buy its way in with a novelty. It has laminated solar cells directly into automotive glass, and the image the company put out shows a car with cells covering the entire roof panel and spilling down across a large section of the rear window.

Read: Nissan’s Ariya Concept Can Add 14 Miles A Day, But Only If The Sun Plays Nice

Fuyao’s current production facilities in Yangxia and Hefei have a combined annual production capacity of 3 million sets of glass for the auto industry, and this is increasing this year. There’s no word on how many solar glass roofs it plans to produce, but it all hinges on carmakers actually deciding it’s worth the investment to use a technology like this.

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A Reported $1,190 Option

According to PV Magazine , reports from China earlier this year suggested that Fuyao was working with BYD and that the solar glass sunroof would be offered as an option on the Han and Tang models, priced at approximately 8,000 yuan ($1,190). However, there has been no confirmation from either brand that this is the case.

BYD Tang

Given how quickly current BYDs can charge thanks to the firm’s 1,500 kW Flash Charging network, there’s little need for its vehicles to also use solar panels to capture enough energy for just a few extra miles a day.

Nissan Has Created Its Own Solar Roof

Fuyao is far from the only company interested in solar glass roof panels. Earlier this year, two Nissan engineers created a special Ariya that uses solar panels across the roof, tailgate, and hood.

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Under clear skies, Nissan says the panels can gather enough energy for up to 14.3 miles (23 km) of additional range in a single day. Spread across a full calendar year, that averages out to roughly 6.3 miles (10.2 km) daily in London, 11.7 miles (18.9 km) in New Delhi, 13.2 miles (21.2 km) in Dubai and 10.9 miles (17.6 km) in Barcelona. The gains shrink once you’re actually moving, though. On a two-hour, 50-mile (80 km) drive, the panels collected 0.5 kWh, good for another 1.8 miles (3 km).

While this doesn’t sound like a lot, Nissan says its analysis showed that commuters who typically drive 3,728 miles (6,000 km) per year could reduce their annual charging-station visits from 23 to just 8 if they drove an EV with solar cells like this.

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