Maybe the Road Itself Can Charge Your Car
- Posted by: Andrew Price
- on October 7, 2009 at 5:36 pm
A German company called IAV has just received a patent for technology that would allow a strip embedded in the road to charge your electric car wirelessly while you drive. Gas2.0 explains:
IAV has achieved 90% efficient transmission for electric vehicle charging from roads using recessed electrical conductors that generate a magnetic field; activated only when the sensor detects that an electric car is over the induction field. Radio chips would identify individual electric vehicles for correct billing.
This isn’t going to be a reality tomorrow (and even if it were, I’d have some questions about safety), but it’s a nice reminder that there are many ways we can clean up transportation and not all of them involve having to plug in a car for eight hours. Combine IAV’s technology with solar roads and we’re all set for clean energy until the sun burns out.
DISCUSSION: 7 Comments
Hi GOOD community!Mega-scale slot cars for all mankind. I am SOooo in! Let’s do it!But, ummmmm, how much money we talking about?So let’s say that it costs $100K per mile to install this awesome, awesome technology in the U.S. highways. Not city streets, just interstate highways. Okay: there are 4 million miles of highway, so, 4MM x 100K/mi = $400 Billion.Sheeyeah! That’s friggin HALF of what we spent on the stimulus bill, and only about a tenth of what we spent on the bank bailout Let’s do it!I want the mini cooper version, and I want it to make a sick, sick, HOWLING windout sound as I jack down the 91 to New Haven.
I still think that it would be better to just charge up at one’s home because the efficiency would be much better. granted 90% is good, but eventually every little bit will help
This sounds really good!
Yeah, questions about safety…How about subjecting your lower half to a magnetic field for that 8 hour drive to grandma’s house. Not cool.
There’s a short animated video (in German) of what IAV has in mind here.
What about just using just small portions of 1 lane on the highways? Would that bring the price tag down from 400 billion?
@MoebiusDo you sit in front of a computer all day like the rest of us? Then you are constantly being exposed to magnetic fields. You even produce one as a matter of fact. Why is that a big deal?