Mercedes-Benz unveiled its first car prototype with a silicon-free, 20%-efficient nanoparticle solar coating that powers the vehicle even when off.
Pilar Sánchez Molina | PV Magazine | October 21, 2025
German automaker Mercedes-Benz has unveiled the Vision Iconic prototype, the first car featuring its “solar paint” photovoltaic solution, at Shanghai Fashion Week in China. The company said the coating comprises innovative modules just 5 micrometers thick that can be applied to the car body “like a wafer-thin paste” or other substrates.
The protective layer is described as a new nanoparticle-based paint that allows 94% of solar energy to pass through. Each module weighs 50 grams per square meter, is thinner than a human hair, and achieves around 20% efficiency over an 11-square-meter surface area, equivalent to a medium-sized SUV.
Mercedes claims the coating can generate electricity for up to 12,000 km of travel per year under standardized irradiation at its facility in Stuttgart, Germany, or up to 20,000 km in Beijing.
