Nissan turns to the sun to give the Ariya EV a range boost

28 January 2026

It’s no surprise to anyone that electric cars need a plug and a socket to keep moving. Nissan decided that maybe it’s time to try something different. To celebrate Clean Energy Day, the automaker showed off a special version of its Ariya. This new concept car uses the sun to help fill up its battery. By adding solar panels to the body of the vehicle, Nissan is apparently exploring a future where electric cars can charge themselves while sitting in a parking lot or driving down the highway.

The Japanese car company covered 3.8 square meters (nearly 41 sq ft) of the car in high-tech solar panels. You can find these panels on the hood, the roof, and even the rear liftgate. These parts are now made from a mix of polymer and glass, and are designed to catch sunlight and turn it into DC power. That power goes straight into the battery pack to give the car a few more miles without ever touching a charging cable.

Testing shows that this technology works well when the weather is clear. On a very sunny day, the solar panels can add up to 14 miles of range. That might not seem like a lot for a long road trip, but it is quite a bit for daily life. Many people drive less than 40 miles a day to get to work and back. This means the sun could provide more than a third of the energy needed for a normal commute, in theory.

Location makes a big difference in how well the technology performs. In a sunny place like Dubai, the car can average about 13.2 miles of free range every day throughout the year. In New Delhi, it gets about 11.7 miles. Even in a cloudy city like London, the panels still work. Drivers there might see an average of 6.3 miles per day. Nissan says that even a quick two-hour drive in the sun can add about 1.9 miles to the battery.

One of the biggest goals of this project is to make life easier for owners of electric cars. Nissan believes that using solar energy could reduce how often a driver needs to plug in by 35% to 65%. If you do not drive long distances every day, you might go weeks without visiting a charging station. For a person who drives 6,000 km a year, Nissan estimates they would only need to plug the car in eight times a year instead of 23.

This technology is especially helpful in places where there are not many charging stations. If you live in a rural area or a city with limited infrastructure, having a car that runs on sunlight is a huge advantage. It gives drivers more freedom. They do not have to worry as much about finding the next plug. Instead, they can just park their Nissan Ariya in a sunny spot and let nature do the work.

Nissan worked with a Dutch company called Lightyear to build this concept. Lightyear’s claim to fame is the failed solar vehicle that never really took off, and the company went bust. But their technology is sound, and together with Nissan, they created a system that manages energy flow through a smart controller, ensuring the battery gets the most power possible from the panels. Inside the car, the digital screens even show the driver how much energy the sun is providing in real-time.

Nissan’s powertrain expert, Shunsuke Shigemoto, says this car is more than just a science project. It is a look at how the company wants to lead the next era of driving. By making EVs that generate their own power, Nissan hopes to reach its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. This means they want their cars and factories to have no negative impact on the environment.

For now, the solar Ariya is just a concept, but the testing data is very promising, and as solar panels get cheaper and more efficient, we might see them become a common feature on electric cars. The tech isn’t perfect - the extra range is marginal at best. It’s unlikely that people would buy a large SUV to drive it only small distances, and leaving your car for a day in the blazing sun means using extra energy to cool it down after… But if your car is parked in the sun anyway, then free electricity is always a bonus, even if it’s only enough to turn the air-con on.

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