It won't be quite the same as putting a
Palm Touchstone under your tire -- although that's quite the mental image -- but Nissan's thinking big and planning to apply that same
inductive charging technology for its upcoming five-seat Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV). As envisioned by the company, the ideal scenario would be to drive into a compatible charging bay and power up without the need to haul around a plug like current EV owners do -- Nissan Europe's Larry Haddad estimates a 25 minute shopping trip could be enough to refill the battery back up to 80 percent. In an admittedly more far-fetched case, the company said it's scientifically feasible to have charging plates buried just under the surface of the road for on-the-go charging. With realities like money and practicality in the way, we can't imagine that example to fruition anytime soon. In the meantime, we've still gotta wait until August to even gather a glimpse of the ZEV -- maybe by then we'll get a better idea of Nissan's plans for the technology.
[Via
Autoblog Green]
posted Jul 21st 2009 12:16AM
No thanks. I don't need to be put in a huge magnetic field.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_magnetic_field
I'm fairly sure you're already swimming in a sea of electromagnetic radiation. I wouldn't worry about it.
That aside, it would be interesting to see if this works out. I imagine you could put the inductive charging plates under areas that become heavily congested too, so that the traffic crawling through grid-locked city streets will be gaining 'fuel' while waiting?
That's give us all an incentive to put up with traffic. =)
I really hate it when people make comments about radiation when they clearly know nothing about it.
The Earth's magnetic field isn't nearly as strong as this field would be, as evidenced by the fact that you can't charge your car from Earth's magnetic field.
Quantumphysics:
I hate it when people assume I don't know anything about radiation.
The fields that would charge these cars are the same fields that people try to avoid and say drives their housing prices down. Yes, I know there are magnetic fields all over the place, but that doesn't mean we need to make more REALLY STRONG ones just because there are already other fields out there.
For example, look at ionizing radiation. You can withstand the Earth's background radiation indefinitely, but that doesn't mean there is no danger to high amounts of ionizing radiation.
I would much rather plug in a plug. It's more efficient anyway.
The size of the field wouldn't have to be very large at all. A concentrated EM field that would be able to charge induction coils on the bottom of a car would have to extend only a foot or two up out of the road surface. And since EM fields go by the inverse square law, the strength of the field drops off dramatically as you move away from the source. Dropping to background levels in only a few more feet.
@why not the LS2LS7?
Since you seem to know physics, I guess you would know you'd be perfectly fine in your car. That Faraday cage thing and all. So you don't have to worry unless your laying in the road.... which then you'd have bigger problems than EM waves.
Also of note, your car already uses inductive charging. The large iron frame makes it a significant magnet, and this significant magnetic field is already being used to induce a current in the road --- this is how many sensors for traffic lights work --- they just have a big solenoid in the road.
This invention just flips that around, so instead of your car creating the magnetic field, its solenoid is having current induced by the electromagnet below.
Nice PhotoPoop job.
Dang this is gonna be like Minority Report when they are all stuck to the highways
Wow, this sounds like a fantastic idea, can you imagine just driving your car and never really having to worry about filling up or plugging in? It's pretty awesome in my opinion.
The problem with inductive charging is that its terribly inefficient when compared to conductive (wired) charging. It's especially ironic considering that they are proposing a wasteful technology to support supposedly green zero emissions vehicles.
1:1 Scalectrix FTW!
What if they stuck magnets in tire tread. Moving a magnet through field could induce a current in the road's circuitry, recouping some of the loss.
I'm kinda sad, because I had this idea about 5 years or so ago, but couldn't afford the cost to patent. I also kinda figured it was obvious enough that there would be prior art or something.
Oil companies as assassins here I'm guessing...
iGT-R
Finally shithead automakers have come to their senses and decided to put the Earth to good use.
I hate to be a cynic...but unless they've made some big breakthroughs, it doesn't seem even close to feasible. Inductive charging really has a pretty small effective range...and becomes incredibly inefficient as you reach the outer reaches of the range. Seems like they'd need 6-12 inches, which is pretty significant by itself. Couple that with the fact that they need to be transmitting tons of power (on the order of kW/h?), which has not been done before.
Also, for the road charging idea, add in transmission through a thick layer of asphalt/concrete? If they've made some advancements in the tech, great. If they're just garnering press attention by spewing out an idea that others have thought of already, then it's total BS.
kW times hour, not per hour. A watt is energy per time (Joule per second).
The simple solution I came up with was just to have the car's coil be mounted on a plate below the car, and drop to contact the road surface when placed in park. Parking spots wouldn't need to actually be paved over.
F ZERO!!! awesom
What about those roads that make power when you drive on them??? Those would make for an interesting combination no?
Well not really piezo electrics don't produce much power to begin with. Even in large concetrations they are not very efficient at converting kinetic energy into electric energy. Plus you have to remember even in perfect controlled situation, most of your power goes to overcoming wind and rolling resistance therefore relatively little energy is transfered to the roadway plus you figure transmission loss through induction. I am guessing you would get less than 1% reclaimed energy and really I bet it is more like .01%.
I think we'll have flying cars before we charge the roads everywhere
As someone with relatively no electrics background -- can you induce through an insolator (rubber)?
Yes. But in this case they wouldn't be doing so, it just goes through the air below your car.
Here's the problem...This would require a specialized charger!
I'd much rather have my EV plug into any 110 or 220 outlet (I realize it will charge slower at 110, but if I am at Grandmas I probably have over night anyway), rather than having to involve a special extra piece of equipment.
they should just put big permanents magnets under the road and if you drive fast over them with your coil, you can charge your batteries while you drive...
oh wait, 2nd law defeats me again
Sounds like Nissan has been playing a bit too much F-Zero.
I actually just did a project in which a car I designed has magnetic induction coils in its tires that are charged by a similar system. Only in my concept, this was coupled with solar cells beneath a glass roadway.
My concept was for 2084. Nice to see the car company's are already thinking in that direction.
Putting induction coils in roadways just doesn't seem like a very practical solution. On the other hand putting one in my garage floor so I don't have to plug in my car when I get home seems like something I could get behind.
Just copy the Wipeout charging method. Heck, what else do you need!?
CA PATH did a proto-type in 1994. The charging system adds about 800 pounds to the car. The costs, decreased mileage from weight not to mention inefficiency make inductive charging as in the Palm device unrealistic for cars. One needs other, better technology.
You're actually quoting 1994 tech as a reason not to consider this idea? Good (G)/(g)od. What rock you been hiding under these last 15 years? In general, all tech has been improved so dramatically that we're doing stuff smaller, more efficiently, and cheaper than ever considered back then.
That's great- Nissan rocks- bought my first Pathfinder in '93, then my Xterra in 2002- both drove great (my Xterra still going strong of course) - Zero emissions is what we need- get on it American car makers- that's part of the reason you needed the bail outs (which were ridiculous).
I just wish they'd stop calling these "zero emission" vehicles... They create plenty of emissions -- after all, you've got to burn coal/oil/gas someplace to generate the electricity to charge them (let's call them displaced emission vehicles). In fact, when you consider transmission losses, electric cars probably create MORE emissions than burning the gas at the point of use. And let's not start with solar -- it takes over $500,000 worth of solar panels and one hour of collection to generate the energy content of 1 gallon of gas (assuming current values of 25% solar cell efficiency, $4 per watt solar cell costs, tracked panels on a cloud-free day, and ~36kWh per gallon of gas). Even assuming a doubling of solar cell efficiency and cutting the cost in half (based on some future breakthrough in technology), that's still well over $100,000 for the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas.
It's just because it's not PC to call them, "Let's not give money to OPEC and Exxon" vehicles.
And while there are some problems with renewable power generation today, technology will get better if there is a demand for it. The batteries will get better as well if there is a demand for them and money to be made. Even things like fusion power plants would change things overnight making power generation much cleaner, yet gas cars would still be burning fuel and getting more inefficient as they age.
Why on earth is everyone going "YAY inductive wireless charging... How great it is how wonderful life would be without wires..."
In a world where we are trying to be more efficient saving energy and so on... Why are we making a massive leap backwards with a charging means that is insanely inefficient?
Seriously just plug in the sodding car and be done with it. Wires are your friend they give you 99.999999% efficiency
Is it just me- why does this plate need to be *under* the road? I assume it would be tons cheaper not to place it under the road, just lay the plate down and have cars drive over it?
My lease is up in April, maybe a zero emissions car will launch by then!
The new car from Toyota Motor Company, they'll call it TYCO... you never need to charge it! You have contacts that slide on the ground and power the car. Innovative-Genius!
Over 80% more efficiency than the antiquated inductive car chargers.
Induction is less efficient than a direct connection. We already have losses in charging the batteries, every additional loss in efficiency brings EVs that much closer to conventional cars in their environmental impact.
If this means turning my garage into a giant microwave-like room complete with a turntable for the car, timer, and loud humming noise I'm all for it.
http://www.heise.de/autos/Die-Strasse-als-Range-Extender-Zukunftsszenario-im-Massstab-1-28--/bildergalerien/7765
it is german but i think the pictures speak for themselves.
this concept was demonstrated on Hannover Fair 2009 and in Detroit aswell. The Idea is to charge EVs in front of shopping malls, traffic lights and special lanes on highways.
FUTUUUURE! :-D
amazing
Strictly speaking, the old GM EV1 was inductively charged. Admittedly, you had to place the charger paddle into a panel in the car, but there was no conductive/ohmic connection. I'm probably going to regret putting in a hyperlink here without preview, so here's the unembedded link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magne_Charge
I've been riffing on this idea for years. But I would make select parking spaces and the first couple car lengths at stop light controlled intersections inductive - not the whole road.
I'm glad to see a company with the capabilities to make it happen is actually looking into it.