German automaker Mercedes-Benz is researching ways to apply solar paint to electric vehicles to power their batteries and extend the distance between charging.
The paint could be applied to the entire body surface, “offering enormous potential for off-grid power generation,” Aline Meiser, a material and product innovation spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz, told The Energy Mix.
“This means longer range, fewer charging stops, and therefore also cost savings.”
Like a photovoltaic panel, solar paint can in theory harness energy from the sun and channel it for use in an electricity system. But unlike panels—which can only be installed on a limited range of surfaces—solar paint can coat any structure. It could also be used on buildings that cannot accommodate panels.
The paint will be applied like “a wafer-thin layer of paste” over an EV’s bodywork, and the energy produced will be used while driving or fed into the car’s battery, the carmaker said in a release.
The paint is not yet commercially available, and Mercedes-Benz is not the only company researching the product, Meiser said. For products in development like the paint, the completion timeline “depends on several factors such as market conditions as well as the further development and maturity of the technology.”
“Our aim is to be able to apply solar paint to all exterior surfaces to maximize the energy yield,” said Meiser, adding that “at five micrometres, the solar paint is extremely thin and at the same time very hard.”
The company claims the solar cells have an efficiency of 20%. When applied over a 118.4-square-foot area—roughly the surface of a mid-sized SUV—the paint could produce electricity for up to 12,000 kilometres per year.
But that number comes with the caveat of a maximum performance “under ideal conditions.” The actual contribution would be determined by factors like shade, sunlight, and geographic location. In a place like Stuttgart, Germany, solar paint could help power about 62% of the distance covered by an average driver, says Mercedes-Benz. In sunnier locations like In Los Angeles, it could deliver up to 100% of the electricity needed for driving, plus use bidirectional charging to feed surplus energy into a home network.
In comparison, flexible solar panels that some automakers have developed are limited to a smaller area on the roof, and ultimately provide less power. The panel atop a 2024 Fisker Ocean, for example, can generate up to 3,218 kilometres per year in ideal conditions, says Edmunds.
Mercedes-Benz says its paint contains no silicon nor rare-earth elements, and is made of only non-toxic and readily available raw materials. It’s easy to recycle and does not produce toxic vapours during production. The paint is also cheaper to manufacture than conventional solar modules, Meiser said, but it’s too soon to tell how the paint might affect an EV’s purchase price.
