The solar array shows that manufacturing eco-friendly road cars are now just the tip of measures being taken by car firms to 'green up' their whole operation.

He said that he had begun planning the solar array long before the feed-in tariffs had been introduced but admitted that they had made the project more financially attractive.

One solar array was lost during launch, another only partially deployed.

As an alternative, a battery-powered electric vehicle may use a solar array to recharge; the array may be connected to the general electrical distribution grid.

A solar array acts like many very small batteries all hooked together in series.