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Britain's ETA reckons crystalised roads could power electric cars

by Parm Mann on 15 December 2008, 12:00

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Engineers in Israel have developed a new form of road that produces electricity when used by passing cars, says the Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

The in-development system is scheduled to be tested on a 100-metre stretch of road in January, and promises to produce up to 400 kilowatts of power from a single kilometre of dual carriageway.

How does it work? Piezoelectricity. The Israeli boffins have embedded crystals into the surface of the road that, when pressed, generate electricity. It sounds simple enough and the ETA is so impressed that director Andrew Davis claims that "it may be the roads themselves that help provide some of the power needed" for electric cars.

It's another in a long line of electricity-producing suggestions, but there's no mention yet of costs. As with most other green-energy solutions, the cost of laying roads embedded with piezoelectric crystals may far outweigh the benefits.

Furthermore, the ETA adds that a piezoelectric system installed on all British motorways would only generate enough energy to run 34,500 small cars. That's a tiny fraction of the 30+ million cars currently on the roads.

Source: eta.co.uk



HEXUS Forums :: 19 Comments

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Why not get it to power the roadside lighting, signage or traffic lights instead?

I realise they used the car example just to show what that energy equates to, but it really would be a pointless use of the power.
I was gonna say the same, I'd also stop kids playing on the motorway if they knew they were gonna get electrocuted :lol:
You don't get energy from nothing.

If vibrations/movement are powering this, then they are taking energy out of a car's movement, requiring them to use more fuel.

So effectively you're getting everyone else to chip in towards the cost of whatever the electricity is going to be used for, while spending lots of money and wasting energy in the conversion. Better just to have rigid roads, put up fuel duty by 2p a litre and directly subsidise.
kalniel
You don't get energy from nothing.

If vibrations/movement are powering this, then they are taking energy out of a car's movement, requiring them to use more fuel.

So effectively you're getting everyone else to chip in towards the cost of whatever the electricity is going to be used for, while spending lots of money and wasting energy in the conversion. Better just to have rigid roads, put up fuel duty by 2p a litre and directly subsidise.
You're vibrating the road anyway, so the argument would be to replace the road with something that can use that to create energy.

I don't think the loss would be to the car, but in the process of actually producing and installing such a system.
Steve
You're vibrating the road anyway, so the argument would be to replace the road with something that can use that to create energy.

I don't think the loss would be to the car, but in the process of actually producing and installing such a system.
Wouldn't it be better to design roads that didn't vibrate as much then? Allow more of the energy to stay in the tyre. Surely cheaper than piezoelectrics. (Actually I think there are people looking into it - the surface is also much quieter if it doesn't vibrate.)