Mercedez-Benz unveils ‘solar paint’ for future electric vehicles

Mercedes-Benz is researching a new type of solar module that could be seamlessly applied to the bodywork of electric vehicles – similar to a wafer-thin layer of paste. 

At 5µm, they are significantly thinner than human hair, weigh just 50g per square metre and are packed full of energy. 

The active photovoltaic surface can be applied to any substrate. The solar cells have a high efficiency of 20 percent. An area of 11sqm (equivalent to the surface of a mid-size SUV) could produce energy for up to 12,000km a year under ideal conditions. 

The energy generated by the solar cells is used for driving or fed directly into the high-voltage battery.
The photovoltaic system is permanently active and also generates energy when the vehicle is switched off. 

In future, this could be a highly effective solution for increased electric range and fewer charging stops.

The yield depends on levels of shade, the intensity of the sun and geographical location. By way of example: statistically, Mercedes-Benz drivers in Stuttgart, Germany cover an average of 52km a day. Around 62 percent of this distance would be covered using solar energy. 

In Los Angeles, there is even a surplus of energy from solar radiation. The customer could cover 100 percent of their driving distance on average with solar energy. The surplus achieved could be fed
directly into the home network via bidirectional charging.

The solar paint not only has a high level of efficiency, but it also contains no rare earths and no silicon – only non-toxic and readily available raw materials. It is easy to recycle and considerably cheaper to produce than conventional solar modules, Mercedes-Benz says. 

The Mercedes-Benz research department is currently working to enable the use of the new solar paint on all exterior vehicle surfaces – regardless of their shape and angle.

Neuromorphic computing 
Future vehicles will include more and more functionalities, with those for autonomous driving being just one example. As this will lead to significantly higher energy requirements, efficiency is a
crucial factor. 

“The vision for the future is autonomous driving, which will redefine the role of the automobile,” said the company in a statement. 

“Not only will it increase safety, efficiency and comfort on the road, [but] it will also give time back to passengers by allowing them to devote their attention to things other than driving. In addition, the autonomous car will communicate with the cities of the future. 

“To realise all this calls for innovative algorithms and hardware components that overcome the limits of today’s computer hardware.”

With this in mind, Mercedez-Benz recently announced a research cooperation with the Canadian University of Waterloo in the field of neuromorphic computing.


By mimicking the workings of the human brain, neuromorphic computing could make AI computations significantly more energy-efficient and faster. Safety systems could, for example, recognise traffic signs, lanes and other road users much better and react faster, even in poor visibility. 

And they could do so 10 times more efficiently than current systems. 

There would be benefits in using a neuromorphic camera for interior monitoring, for example. Instead of full images (frames), it delivers individual pixels (events – hence the name event-based camera). 

The process is extremely fast with minimal delay. This means, for instance, a rapid system reaction to the blinking of a driver’s eye caused by fatigue. 

Neuromorphic computing has the potential to reduce the energy required for data processing in autonomous driving by 90 percent, compared with current systems.