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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.
Original Submission
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 07 2015, @10:49PM
That means we need a massive increase in the capacity of the electrical grid. Years ago, I did a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation of the electrical requirements for replacing petroleum-based fuels with electricity. The energy per car was roughly the same order of magnitude as the electrical energy consumed by a typical home. Hence, the grid would have to double in capacity, assuming one car per house. Double the number of hydro dams, double the number of nukes, double the amount of coal burned, double the gas turbine plants, double the wind generators and solar photovoltaics etc.
I don't see how that is going to happen.
The only realistic solution is to reduce the size/power requirements of cars... substantially. The future of the automobile looks more like a bicycle.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Wednesday July 08 2015, @01:15AM
Yes, but assuming that the new load is mostly battery powered vehicles, it is much more amenable to time constrained charging.
A mix of local solar and off-peak grid would be able to handle it with much more modest improvements in delivery infrastructure.
You are still going to need either more generators or lots of solar.
AU where I live is heading that way. Solar installations are appearing on more roofs all the time. (14% of homes in 2014 had solar power)
The power companies have dropped the feed-in tariff so much that people are now load-shifting to avoid the feed-in/buy-back difference. (and now the companies are complaining about that)
Realistically, it is not yet worth going off-grid, but PV panels keep dropping in price and if cheap batteries come along that could change.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.