Now another beautiful classic, the 2000GT coupe of Japanese carmaker Toyota was reborn thru what is called the Crazy Car Project turning the the 1967 ride into a solar powered electric vehicle.

Like its Jaguar counterpart, the 2000GT’s engine bay was dissected to take out its 2.0L inline six engine and replace it with a 35 kWh battery pack of lithium ion powering a 161 bhp or 120kW electric motor that transfers all its power to the rear wheels.

To prevent the battery pack’s juices running out, the bonnet of a car now houses a really big solar panel while solar cells have also been integrated to the windscreen at the rear of the car.

The sound of the original GT2000 engine is sent to the cabin of the vehicle to keep as much possible that character of the car. It’s top speed goes up to around 200 kilometers per hour.

The cabin of the ride was also improved with the original instruments supplemented with the battery gauge, bio-fiber carpets, and a rear view mirror that also serves as your digital info screen.

The project was done by an auto fan club which has some engineers from Toyota itself. Did they get paid for the work, we do not know.

The Solar EV 2000GT was shocased during the Toyota Auto Salon which is the biggest show for customized cars.

You can enjoy a video of the 2000GT Solar EV below , see how the car runs and learn what the makers went thru in producing it:

Webasto produces roof systems for automobiles and is among the movers in providing innovative roofs for vehicles. The company has been doing functional solar roofs over the last two decades. With the growing demand for hybrid vehicles and eventually electric cars, the work of Webasto is becoming more important as they plan to integrate the solar panels from Konarka to their car roofing.

The goal of the collaboration is to make the solar panels more efficient so they will be suitable to be used on vehicles.

Organic solar cells are made of flexible, non-toxic, unbreakable, and recyclable materials. Today the efficiency of the organic solar cells are at 8.4% and holding weak light better compared with other available technologies. The solar cells can be printed to produce various widths and lengths for different applications.

The Power Plastic of Konarka is available in different colors and sizes giving end users the design freedom like integrating other applications and other technologies.

Solar powered cars would have many advantages over those that run on fossil fuels. These advantages are directly the result of the alternative source of energy. Cars that are solar powered basically run on energy collected from the sun’s rays and that means that there is an unlimited supply of the source energy. This gives solar powered vehicles an edge over those that use up the limited supplies of oil reserves.

Another advantage of solar energy is that it is also free of future costs for the supply and requires very little maintenance and upkeep. This would make solar powered cars cheap to drive. Since solar power doesn’t have any emissions, the cars would also be considered clean or “green” and not have a negative impact on the environment.

However, as of now there are no standard solar powered car models on the market. This may change in the near future, though, since many of the major manufacturers are also looking into this alternative source of energy and have ideas, such as adding solar panels to the car roof or to use solar energy as a power source to charge electric cars.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The carts will collect the energy from the sun’s rays via photovoltaic panels attached to its roof. The solar power will charge the battery that will run the cart. The collected energy from the panels will add around 4 to 7 miles to the range of the cart.

When the battery is fully charged, the golf cart will be able to take people 40 to 60 miles on average.

The manufacturers of the carts explained that the carts can be made legal in most parts of the United States where the speed limit is less than 35 mph or lower.

The Universal Studios are considering the Solar Electric Hybrid carts from Cruise Car Inc. for use in their 415 acre lot. The manufacturer produces around 50 variants of the carts.

Environmentalists and media experts commended the Universal Studios for its commitment and prompt action to be more earth friendly.

No deals have been signed yet but soon top caliber actresses and actors, executives, and staff will be roaming around the big sets using the solar charged and plug in vehicle. This will phase out the gasoline powered golf carts that have been on the service for several years.

This is not the first time Universal Studios took a step to be lighter on the carbon foot print. They were recently rewarded the Environmental Media Associations Green Seal Award as one of the most earth friendly amusement parks in the US.

Interestingly, while they do seem a bit comical, these kit cars can be issued VINs (vehicle identification numbers) and when registered as Low Speed Vehicles or Neighborhood Electric Vehicles, may be insured by several vehicle insurance companies. Much like motorized golf carts in gated communities, the SUNN solar powered electric car will save on gas and the wear and tear of taking the car out to make short jaunts to visit the neighbors or trips to the pool.

A choice between pickup truck and car, the kits include everything except the batteries, which are too expensive to ship. Both are one hundred percent rechargeable by the sun, run about twelve miles in total distance before requiring a charge, seat two people, and are waterproof.

At just under six thousand dollars, the SUNN vehicle is really a step in the right direction in doing one’s part to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and transitioning to alternative car fuels.

Here’s a video:

Click here to view the embedded video.