Japan's taxis fit wind-powered cellphone chargers

We've come across Tokyo taxis with cellphone chargers before (hell, we've come across taxis here that are fitted with most things), but Kyoto taxi company Ecolo21 are playing up their planet-friendly image by fitting the roof-mounted lights on their fleet with miniature wind-powered generators that you can use to charge your cellphone in the back seat. There are only two minor flaws in their otherwise laudable plan; one, the generator charges directly so you only get juice while the fan on the roof is spinning, and two…they've only fitted out one car so far. They do promise to introduce a version that charges a battery and to fit them to more of the fleet in future, however.

[nick @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM]

whats the point. the power form the car is going to be generated anyway so you might as well use it. there is no benefit to the chargers being wind powered!!

[abigsmurf @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM]

As I assume it uses the air rushing through the fan while the vehicle is speeding to generate power, it increases drag, increasing how much fuel the vehicle needs to use to keep up it's speed.

In otherwords, it would be more efficient to run it off the dynamo in the car (like the person above said.

[josh @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM]

In fact, it is worse than stupid. The wind is almost entirely going to be generated by the motion of the car. The power will therefore come as a result of increased drag, so there will be more work done by the car (even in the absence of someone charging a phone), and the power is almost certainly generated less efficiently than the internal generator. So yeah, in the name of the environment you can make your taxis more polluting! Great.

[t0dd @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM]

I agree. That little windmill creates slightly more drag and will decrease the efficiency of the car and in turn burn a little more fuel. If the thing charged right off the car battery at least it wouldn't be utilizing fossil fuels to power the cellphone. Actually.. screw it, lets just make gas powered cellphones with a pull start.

[Keith Wright @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM]

#3: That sure would certainly add a new degree of excitement to the exploding cell phone stories.

[Dolomite @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM]

Probably would have been better to outfit the exhaust with a small turbine, this way it would charge whether the car was moving or not, engine would just have to be running.

[Adam @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM]

I came out with that exact comment a few days ago on this very site Dolomite - Great minds eh!

[The Bruce @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM]

Do all the phones in Tokyo have the same power adapter?

That's the main reason why this would never work in the states. That and the fact that we are in the Mobile Phone Dark Ages.

[M @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM]

What a bunch of idiots #1 to 4. People, this is a *cellphone* charger, not a notebook charger. Cellphones need so little energy that this contraption will be of little consequence to car's efficiency.

Actually, the taxi company in Japan has taken this idea from an Indian guy at IIT Delhi who recently invented a portable wind powered charger [reported on Giz...o, 24-Feb]. It uses a turbine no bigger than the ordinary fan used in PCs.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Most cars in India aren't fitted with cellphone chargers. You could also use it in a bus, on a long train ride (very useful), on your bike, even in coastal areas or on a trek. Any place that has constant windflow will do.

http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/feb/24iit.htm

[Pakbot @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM]

Cell phones in Japan can generally fit into one of three chargers. (for the three big companies, Docomo, AU and Vodafone). The car chargers I see usually have switchable plugs to fit most phones. I would assume they would use something like that. I'll go check next time I'm in Kyoto. ;) I just use an AC converter (adapter?) in my car when I need to charge anything.