Techno Station is yet not on rumors but word is out and it says that Toyota Motor Corp. is developing a Prius that will be powered solely by solar energy in an effort to turn around its struggling business with a futuristic ecological car.

Toyota, the manufacturer of the Lexus luxury car and Camry sedan, has already begun using solar panels at its Tsutsumi plant in central Japan to produce some of its own electricity. The solar panels on the roofs add up in size to the equivalent of 60 tennis courts and produce enough electricity to power 500 homes, according to Toyota. That reduces 740 tons a year of carbon dioxide emissions and is equal to using 1,500 barrels of crude oil.

No idea when the planned vehicle will be available on the market. As per reports (call them rumors), Toyota is working on an electric vehicle that will get some of its power from solar cells equipped on the vehicle, and that can be recharged with electricity generated from solar panels on the roofs of homes. The automaker later hopes to develop a model totally powered by solar cells on the vehicle.

The would be solar car is part of efforts by worlds one of the top automaker to grow during hard times. Remember late last year, Toyota had announced that it will slip into its first operating loss in 70 years, as it gets battered by a global slump. The yen has also hurt the earnings of Toyota. Still, Toyota is a leader in green technology and the company is not.

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