Fuyao Group, one of China's major automotive glass manufacturers, has developed a solar-powered sunroof designed to provide additional energy for electric vehicles. The technology is reportedly fully developed and validated, putting it in a position to move toward mass production.
Fuyao is already a major player in the automotive glass industry. The company supplies glass products to several global automakers, including Ford, General Motors, Subaru, Tesla, and Volkswagen Group.
Rather than using a separate solar panel mounted on top of the vehicle, Fuyao's technology integrates solar cells directly into the glass panel. Images released by the company show the solar cells covering a large section of the roof and extending toward the rear glass area.
Fuyao currently operates production facilities in Yangxia and Hefei. Their combined capacity is reportedly around three million sets of automotive glass per year, with further expansion underway.
The solar glass technology has also been linked to potential applications in BYD vehicles. Reports from China have suggested that it could be offered as an option for the BYD Han and Tang, with an estimated price of around 8,000 yuan, or approximately Rp21 million.
However, neither BYD nor Fuyao has officially confirmed that the technology will be adopted for those two models. For now, the reported connection between Fuyao's solar glass and BYD remains unconfirmed.
Solar technology for electric vehicles is not entirely new. Nissan previously explored a similar concept with the Ariya, placing solar panels on areas including the roof, hood, and tailgate.
Under sunny conditions, Nissan said its system could provide up to around 23 kilometers of additional driving range per day. However, the amount of energy generated remains relatively small compared with the overall energy requirements of an electric vehicle.
For example, after driving for two hours over approximately 80 kilometers, the system was reported to collect only around 0.5 kWh of energy. That amount would translate into roughly three kilometers of additional range.
This illustrates why solar panels on electric vehicles are better viewed as a supplementary energy source rather than a replacement for conventional charging. Their performance depends heavily on sunlight intensity, panel size, solar-cell efficiency, weather, and how the vehicle is used.
Even with limited output, integrating solar cells into automotive glass could still provide useful benefits for vehicles that spend a significant amount of time parked outdoors. Energy collected while the vehicle is exposed to sunlight could help reduce the amount of electricity required from external charging.
If the technology eventually enters mass production, it could represent an interesting development in the effort to improve electric-vehicle efficiency. However, conventional charging infrastructure would still remain essential for supplying the majority of the energy required by an EV battery.
