Mercedes unveils car that can be powered using solar coating
Mercedes unveils car that can be powered using solar coating
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28 October 2025
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The Vision Iconic prototype was unveiled at Shanghai Fashion Week in China
The coating can generate enough electricity to cover 12,000km of travel per year
Each module weighs 50g per square metre
Source: Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz has launched a car prototype that includes a silicon-free, 20% efficient nanoparticle solar coating that can power the vehicle even when it’s turned off.
Markus Schäfer, member of the board, Mercedes-Benz Group AG said that the coating uses modules that are five micrometers thick and can be applied like a wafer-thin paste.
The protective layer has been described as a new nanoparticle-based paint that allows 94% of solar energy to pass through. Each module weighs 50g per square metre and achieves around 20% efficiency over an 11 square meter surface area.
Mercedes-Benz' new EV. Credit: Mercedes-Benz.
Schäfer claimed the coating can generate enough electricity to cover 12,000 km of travel per year under standard irradiation at its facility in Germany.
“The solar coating can be applied with any paint colour and does not use silicon or rare earth materials,” Schäfer said, before explaining that it can also “generate energy when the vehicle is off and store it directly in the battery”.
The company has said, statistically Mercedes-Benz drivers in Stuttgart, Germany cover an average of 52km a day and around 62% of this is covered using solar energy.
“In Los Angeles, there is even a surplus of energy from solar radiation; the customer could cover 100% of their driving distance, on average, by solar energy,” Schäfer said. “The surplus achieved could be fed directly into the home network via bidirectional charging”.
The Mercedes-Benz research department is currently working to enable use of the new solar paint on all exterior vehicle surfaces, regardless of their shape and angle.
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Tamara BirchNewsletters and sponsored content editor
Tamara is a journalist with more than six years experience writing about environmental topics. This includes advising small businesses on cost-effective ways tom become more sustainable, from installing to solar panels and heat pumps and reducing waste. She has used her journalist and research skills to become highly knowledgeable on sustainable initiatives, issues, and solutions to help consumers do their bit for the environment – all while reducing monthly costs. Now, she’s using this experience to advise homeowners on the benefits of installing low-carbon technologies. She is also qualified in offering innovative initiatives to improve sustainability practices in businesses, from advertising to marketing and publishing.
Her passion for sustainability and eco-friendly solutions stems from a long obsession with nature and animals and ensuring they feel looked after. In her free time, Tamara enjoys reading fantasy novels, visiting the gym, and going on long walks in new areas.
Max joined The Eco Experts as content manager in February 2024 and became deputy editor in 2025. He has written about sustainability issues across numerous industries, including maritime, supply chain, finance, mining, and retail. He has also written extensively for consumer titles like City AM, The Morning Star, and The Daily Express.
In 2020, he covered in detail the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) legislation on sulphur emissions and its effects on the global container shipping market as online editor of Port Technology International.
He also explored the initiatives major container ports and terminals have launched in order to ship vital goods across the world without polluting the environment.
Since then, he has reported heavily on the impact made by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices on the supply chain of minerals, with a particular focus on rare earth mining in Africa.
As part of this, in 2022 Max visited mines and ports in Angola to hone in on the challenges being faced by one of the world’s biggest producers of rare earth minerals.
His most recent sustainability-related work came much closer to home, as he investigated the eco-challenges faced by independent retailers in the UK, specifically looking at how they can cut emissions and continue to thrive.
Max lives in South London and is an avid reader of books on modern history and ghost stories. He has also recently learned to play the game Mahjong and takes every opportunity to do so. He is also yet to find a sport he doesn’t enjoy watching.
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