16/07/2012
An electrifying way to lower our carbon footprint
There’s undoubtedly loads of research time going into making motoring more ecological and economical.
Many scientists and manufacturers are scrambling over each other in an attempt to lower everyone’s carbon footprint.
One recent break-through is the work of a Japanese research team at The Toyohashi University of Technology. They have devised a way for electric cars of the future to charge as they drive – rendering the need for car charging points obsolete.
They are going to electrify the roads.
Yes – the surface pedestrians cross over regularly and drivers step onto to access their vehicles – they believe that pumping electricity through it is a good idea.
The team managed to send electrical current through six inches of concrete, through tyres, to a light bulb which lit up to show the experiment had been successful.
Apparently that experiment could be scaled up so the current would go through 12 inches of concrete and be viable as an actual way of powering electric cars, but the current’s strength would also have to be increased.
Forgive me if I’m not that taken with the idea. Don’t we already have enough road accidents annually? Let’s not add electrocution to those stats.
Many scientists and manufacturers are scrambling over each other in an attempt to lower everyone’s carbon footprint.One recent break-through is the work of a Japanese research team at The Toyohashi University of Technology. They have devised a way for electric cars of the future to charge as they drive – rendering the need for car charging points obsolete.
They are going to electrify the roads.
Yes – the surface pedestrians cross over regularly and drivers step onto to access their vehicles – they believe that pumping electricity through it is a good idea.
The team managed to send electrical current through six inches of concrete, through tyres, to a light bulb which lit up to show the experiment had been successful.
Apparently that experiment could be scaled up so the current would go through 12 inches of concrete and be viable as an actual way of powering electric cars, but the current’s strength would also have to be increased.
Forgive me if I’m not that taken with the idea. Don’t we already have enough road accidents annually? Let’s not add electrocution to those stats.
Photo © Icronic.com via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: carbon footprint, ecological, economical, electric cars, motoring, power, research team, scientists
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