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posted by CoolHand on Tuesday July 07 2015, @07:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the are-you-*sure*-that-will-scale-up? dept.

Converting the energy of a moving automobile into an efficient power source for that same automobile is one of the Holy Grails of motor transport, and new research suggests an important part of the solution could be to look at the friction generated between car tyres and the road itself.

Engineers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US have developed a nanogenerator that’s capable of harvesting the energy produced by the friction of a tyre rolling along the ground.

For those aren't going to RTFA no matter what: Their test vehicle was a toy car, so I've got some concerns about whether or not this will scale up to full-sized models. But if it does, it could potentially vast increase the range of electric cars, or allow them to use smaller batteries.


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  • (Score: 2) by kaganar on Tuesday July 07 2015, @08:12PM

    by kaganar (605) on Tuesday July 07 2015, @08:12PM (#206209)
    No, I haven't RTFA, and while this sounds potentially stupid, it may be no more stupid than regenerative breaking depending on how it's done.
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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by M. Baranczak on Tuesday July 07 2015, @10:06PM

    by M. Baranczak (1673) on Tuesday July 07 2015, @10:06PM (#206239)
    Or even regenerative braking.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by theluggage on Tuesday July 07 2015, @10:25PM

    by theluggage (1797) on Tuesday July 07 2015, @10:25PM (#206253)

    it may be no more stupid than regenerative breaking

    Regenerative braking is a great idea if you want to slow down and get some of your kinetic energy back... Keeping your foot on the regenerative brake all the time so you're always getting energy back, however, is stupid - and based on the TFA and abstract, that's exactly what this idea sounds like. Maybe the real paper resolves this.

    • (Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday July 08 2015, @11:05AM

      by sjames (2882) on Wednesday July 08 2015, @11:05AM (#206419) Journal

      From reading the writeup on the university website, I get the impression they are re-capturing the energy that goes into generating static charge (and ultimately heat). If so, and if it's significant, then this would make sense.

      • (Score: 2) by theluggage on Wednesday July 08 2015, @12:08PM

        by theluggage (1797) on Wednesday July 08 2015, @12:08PM (#206428)

        The surprise there would be to find that the static charge accounted for any significant part of the frictional energy loss c.f. mechanical heating and noise.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2015, @04:41PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2015, @04:41PM (#206501)

    Now if they can also put LEDs in the sidewalls...