Hanergy Holding Group has announced a joint development with Audi of a prototype car equipped with an integrated thin-film solar power roof.

"Thin-film solar power can be understood as artificial chlorophyll," says Li Hejun, the president of Hanergy Holding Group, "which allows people to use sunlight like green plants. Yet the actual thickness of the thin-film solar power chip is only a few microns, less than 1/10 of a human hair. It can turn sunlight into electricity within a few hundredths of a second."

Meanwhile, as a new generation of solar technology, the production of the thin-film chip is more environmentally friendly. And there is still great room for improvement in photoelectric conversion efficiency and cost reduction.

Founded in 1994, Hanergy Holding Group believes in "changing the world with thin-film solar energy". It has more than 10,000 employees and eight R&D centers in China, the United States, Germany, Sweden and other countries.

Germany is planning to ban gasoline cars by 2030, aiming to gradually reduce emissions and reduce pollution. As the achievement of zero emission relies on the development of electric vehicles, Hanergy and Audi reached out to each other.

The first prototype car equipped with an integrated thin-film solar power roof is to be launched by the end of 2017.