Nissan’s new solar-powered mini-EV can drive 3,000 km a year without ever plugging in
Published on Oct 22, 2025 at 3:12 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Oct 22, 2025 at 8:09 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
Nissan just announced a solar-powered EV based on the Nissan Sakura for this year’s Japan Mobility Show.
Built using the super popular kei car as a platform, the solar-powered Sakura promises ‘free’ motoring thanks to its solar panels.
In theory, you can drive it for a year without ever plugging it in.
In practice, there’s an inevitable catch.
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How Nissan aims to revolutionize kei cars
Set to be unveiled to the public at the 2025 Japan Mobility Show, the solar-powered Nissan Sakura looks basically the same as the ‘normal’ Sakura kei car, apart from the massive extendable solar panels on the roof.
These panels are used to power the electric engine, and, theoretically, this makes the vehicle self-sufficient.

As long as you keep it parked in the sun, you can drive it for an entire year without ever needing to charge it manually.
The only problem is that this system only guarantees around 3,000KM (1,860 miles) of range a year.
At this point we have to break out our calculator and conclude that this works out to around 8 kilometers (4.9 miles) a day, which is not great.

The solar-powered Sakura is designed for (short) daily commutes, but that’s about it.
So if you live in, say, Culver City and work in Beverly Hills – about five miles away – then this car is ideal for you.
Solar-powered cars haven’t really caught on, but that might be changing
Solar-powered cars aren’t really catching on.
We’ve seen several different prototypes over the years, but none of those made it to production.
With one exception: the Aptera.

The Aptera was first announced as a concept car in 2023, and then the company began testing a working prototype about a year later.
They’ve been testing the electric vehicle on grueling road trips, including in the desert, with excellent results.
With 50,000 pre-orders under its belt, Aptera is gearing up to launch a full-fledge production vehicle soon.