Hyundai backs car which uses sunlight

Hyundai and a postgraduate student from Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a prototype solar-powered car which pumps clean oxygen into the air.

By David Millward, Transport EditorPublished: 2:03PM BST 29 Jul 2009
Dubbed the Hyundai City Car 2020, it uses solar panels to soak up the sun's rays which in turn create electricity.

This electricity is fed into a water tank where it separates the hydrogen, which powers the car. Pure oxygen is pushed out of the exhaust.
The car is in reality using photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert sunlight into energy.
As far fetched as the technology might appear, hydrogen is already seen as a viable source of energy for cars and is being used by Honda in California.
Hyundai, whose badge appears on the solar powered car, also predicts that hydrogen fuel cells are likely to become a commercial proposition over the next decade.
Nicolas Stone, the student behind the project, said he believed that this could help solve the problem of cutting motoring's carbon impact.
"My goal for this project was to "attack" the global energy crisis from a fresh perspective," he said.
"I feel this proposal is very realistic because the technology, as extreme as it sounds, really does exist. These technologies have enormous potential, I believe it is just a matter
of time before it becomes more mainstream."