Skeptics Doubt China Company’s Solar Car Plan

Analysts are skeptical of claims by China's Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Ltd. that by October the company will present prototype vehicles than run entirely on solar power, Bloomberg News reports.

Hanergy says its cars will carry 64 sq ft of thin-film solar panels that can transform enough sunlight in four hours to power a vehicle for about 60 miles.

The company announced yesterday it will equip an array of recreational vehicles, food trucks and tour buses with solar panels capable of generating 6 kWh per day enough to meet the vehicle's lighting, refrigeration and cooking needs.

But analysts say an all-solar-power car, which would consume roughly 16 kWh to cover 60 miles, is a dramatically bigger challenge. Hanergy has offered no details to date about its technology or who it will partner with on solar EVs. Nor has it described the onboard energy storage system that would be necessary to allow a solar-powered car to operate at night.

Bloomberg observes the lack the technical detail hasn't deterred investors. They have boosted Hanergy's stock price in the past 12 months tenfold, giving the company a current market value of more than $37 billion.