An Aston Martin racing car, which is installed with Hanergy thin-film solar panels on its rooftop, competes in the Six Hours of Shanghai, the China competition of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2012. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]

The Aston Martin Racing (AMR) team pocketed the first and second prize for amateur drivers at the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) held in Shanghai on Sunday, although the trophies for professional drivers went to the Toyota Team.

Apart from the deeper-pitched roar from their unique Vantage V-8 engines, the Aston Martin cars were also particularly noticeable for the solar panels installed on their roofs. The British racing team and its exclusive partner and solar power provider Hanergy, a clean energy leader in China, jointly announced on Sunday that the thin-film solar panels on Aston Martin cars were in "preliminary operation."

Aston Martin's intention to pilot an in-car solar power solution was largely due to the lengthy nature of endurance races, as each race in the WEC usually lasts six hours. Therefore, reducing the electrical demand on the engine will help improve performance, and Richard Taylor, AMR's Business Development Director, believes that Hanergy thin-film solar panels are a solution.

"The Hanergy solar panels will eventually mean that we get more power from the engine to drive the car faster; for us, in a racing contest, it has a performance benefit," Taylor said at the Shanghai International Circuit.

According to Taylor, Aston Martin is yet to perfect the "electronic docking" between the in-car system and the Hanergy panels. But it will take at most another few months before the Hanergy panels are fully integrated into the Aston Martin racing cars.

Static tests conducted by Aston Martin showed that Hanergy thin-film panels are capable of generating 300 watts per square meter – typically the roof size of a car. The power generated will be helpful to the team if the panels can generate as much power when the car is in motion.

Hanergy Thin Film Power's Executive President Zhou Jiesan (Jason Chou) confirmed that both parties are still working on how to make Hanergy's solar panels more suitable for automotive use.

"Our partnership with world famous Aston Martin Racing is evidence of the recognition Hanergy receives for its thin-film solar power technology in the international market. The international racing event held in Shanghai shows that our thin-film solar panels can last through an endurance race," Zhou said.

While funding a racing team is more of a promotion strategy, Hanergy believes the broader market for its car rooftop solar panels lies in ordinary road cars.

Providing the power for the in-car air conditioner is such an application, according to Taylor. Under their plan, Hanergy solar panels will be able to generate sufficient electricity to keep the car's temperature down while it is parked in the sun, alleviating the pain of entering a hot car parked in the open air in summer, although there is still a long way to go before solar panels could independently power a car's air conditioner.