With electric vehicle sales on the rise, many auto makers are looking for the next advance in the technology. The electric vehicle removes dependence on gasoline but the concept car announced by Ford last week removes the vehicle’s dependence on anything but the sun. The C-MAX Solar Energi concept car is a solar-powered hybrid vehicle that is able to store solar energy using concentrating solar technology.

This new car offers potential owners even greater reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and opens up interesting possibilities for places that have little grid and fuel access. The C-MAX Solar Energi concept car uses technology similar to CSP to harvest the sun’s energy to charge the car’s battery. According to Ford, this model would share the high MPG of their C-MAX Energi model and would be able to draw the equivalent of a four-hour charge from daily sun.

Of course it is important to consider this technology in the context of other hybrid and electric vehicle technology. Many of the challenges associated with widespread plug-in vehicle market uptake stem from a lack of charging infrastructure. While this concept car is independent of this particular lack of infrastructure, a robust fueling and maintenance framework  – whether it be for natural gas, hydrogen or electricity – will be necessary for alternatively-fueled vehicles to gain significant market share.