Since there are no currently active contests, we have switched Climate CoLab to read-only mode.
Learn more at https://climatecolab.org/page/readonly.
Skip navigation
Share via:

Pitch

Conductive roads and conductive wheels of electric car will enable use of renewable energy for road transportation on the move.


Description

Summary

Electric cars are as green as their juice - Give an electric car the right juice and it crushes combustion engines.[6]

The idea proposes to use electricity generated from renewable energy source which will be used to power electric cars like Tesla by using a combination of conducting strips on roads and conducting tyres or wheels. The basic underlying principle will be conduction this will eliminate the need for wireless charging or inductive charging which usually drives the cost very high but since we use conduction the cost will be very low and with minimum changes on the existing road and electric cars.

Our idea proposes for a cost effective method to bring renewable energy utilization into road transportation. We already have trains that run on electricity. Now it is time for cars to run on renewable energy.

Safety on road:- A natural question that comes to mind when we say laying conductive strips with high voltage D.C current on open roads is electrification risk.

Solution:-

  1. Cheap stress sensors:- These are load cells, when a human walks on the road with their feet on conductive strip then the strips do not conduct electricity because the load cells are configured for higher values, equal to the weight of cars. When the wheels of the car which is heavy enough to trigger the load cell threshold value then it conducts electricity.
  2. Magnetic reed sensors:- High power Neodymium magnets,magnets embedded in the tyres trigger magetic reed sensors to complete the circuit which drives the current for conduction. Human beings walking on these conductive strips cannot trigger these magnetic reed sensors to complete the circuit for conduction without a magnet.


Is this proposal for a practice or a project?

Practice


What actions do you propose?

The idea is to make the roads conductive by laying it with conducting strips on each lanes, the conductive layers will be placed on piezo electric sensors which will provide electricity only when a car moves across the surface, this will ensure that the roads are safe for pedestrians also in case they need to use it.

The electric cars will be using conductive electric wheels, it conducts electricity when it runs on conductive road and it charges up the battery and powers the cars on the road. The electricity used for such transportation will be made available from renewable energy source, hence it cuts down emissions to a great extent because it does not use fossil fuels.

Dynamic electric vehicle charging using technology involving embedded wireless charging was tested out recently but the cost involved was high, my proposal achieves the same results using a simple and more cost effective solution overcoming a few underlying challenges.[3][4].

Israel has also recently Tested out Wireless Charging Roads for Electric Vehicles.[5]

Recent advanced in conductive tyre manufacturing would also help the proposed project.

Source:-http://www.senturytire.com

In 2016 China International Graphene Innovation Conference hosted in Qingdao on September 22nd. Sentury & Huagao first electrostatic conducting graphene tire was launched. Sentury and Huagao presented the cooperated product that attacked many experts and audience attention. Conductive tyres are also used in airplane tyres.

The infrastructure requirements for laying lanes with these strips and for ChargeGo.

  1. Adding conductive wheels or tyres to electric cars, there are conductive wheels in the market or existing tyres can be converted into conductive tyres with metallic mesh embedded in tyres or giving a conductive coating to the wheels.
  2. Connecting the wheels to positive and negative terminal of battery via a transformer this will enable charging of the car, different electric cars require different power so this is required.

ChargeGo charging the battery in motion.

The need to drive exactly on the strip?

The ChargeGo will be available in different lanes, so this is as simple as driving in the lane, this will most interestingly improve lane discipline because this will encourage people to drive on the lane bringing more discipline to the road improving road safety also. The track in most of the electric car chassis remain the same.

Also this will help autonomous cars to a great extend, the autonomous  cars can also rely on these conductive strips to stay on the road within the track.

 


Who will take these actions?

The success of the project requires a collaboration of the following three industries.

  1. Energy:- Electricity generated from renewable energy.Key players include Government and private sector companies.
  2. Electric car manufacturers:- As of today electric cars are charged using charging ports, wireless charging they are not designed to charge on the go via wheels. The proposed technology would fit well with autonomous cars.
  3. Road construction & Tyre manufacturers:- Government authorities are responsible for construction of roads, to make conductive D.C strips on roads and to makes wheels conductive their collaboration and research is important.


Where will these actions be taken?

These actions will be taken primarily in Boston, United States and Bangalore, India.


In addition, specify the country or countries where these actions will be taken.

India


Country 2

United States


Country 3

United Arab Emirates


Country 4

Singapore


Country 5

Denmark


Impact/Benefits


What impact will these actions have on greenhouse gas emissions and/or adapting to climate change?

  1. The main benefits of nuclear power are that is it more efficient than burning fossil fuels as the amount of energy released from uranium per gram is much more than that of fuels such as oil or coal; approximately 8,000 times more efficient in fact.[1]
  2. When petrol is burned, just 30% or less of the energy released is actually used to move the car forwards, the rest goes into exhaust heat, water pumps and other inefficiencies. Electric cars do lose some energy through recharging their batteries, but overall at least 75% goes into actual movement.
  3. Nuclear energy is by far America’s largest source of clean, emission-free electricity, producing no greenhouse gases or air pollutants. According to experts nuclear power is one of the few technologies that can quickly combat climate change.[7][8]


What are other key benefits?

  1. A large cut down of greenhouse gas emissions as we are using electric cars which have zero emissions and the technology used to generate electricity is nuclear reaction and not fossil fuels.The main benefits of nuclear power are that is it more efficient than burning fossil fuels as the amount of energy released from uranium per gram is much more than that of fuels such as oil or coal; approximately 8,000 times more efficient in fact.[1]
  2. The range of electric cars were limited by their battery capacity but with conducting roads powering the cars their range will have no limitation, they can go on and on as long as they have road.
  3. Traffic discipline will be improved because the conducting strips are placed on roads so if the driver wants to go on nuclear power they will have to drive the car on a disciplined track, this will discourage zig-zag movements and overtaking on road which ultimately leads to better road safety.

The advantages compared to inductive charging proposals

  1. Firstly inductive charging setup on road requires tearing up sections of road to lay, which is disruptive and expensive because of this many countries will stay away from this as it comes with a huge price tag. Whereas ChargeGo can be laid on existing roads, it is a thin strip of aluminium or metal that can be added as layer on top of the existing road because of which there is no tearing up of existing roads.
  2. The systems themselves aren’t exactly cheap, requiring a continuous line of electromagnets for the length of the road. As result, the infrastructure would be unlikely to extend beyond a few high-traffic routes through a city in case of inductive charging. Whereas ChargeGo doesn’t require any sophisticated electronics, it is just a sheet of metallic strips with cheap sensors which makes it ideal for miles of road as cost is significantly cheap compared to inductive charging.
  3. Time required for laying the proposed ChargeGo is very less.
  4. Maintenance is easy for ChargeGo as the strip is above the road whereas for inductive charging it involves tearing apart the road.
  5. Copper plates are installed on the underside of vehicles for inductive charging to work, it requires a lot of re-engineering of electric vehicle and ground clearance also is an issue whereas for ChargeGo electric conduction through conductive tyres takes care of everything. The connection of the two terminal of the battery is given with the conductive wheels.


Costs/Challenges


What are the proposal’s projected costs?

Here I assume we already have an electric car, any electric car that can run on a battery will work.

  • Research & development of the proposed concept with a scaled model with an scaled electric car- $3000
  • Testing on 500 m track of road with a life size car- $2000
  • Cost of modifying an life size electric car into a nuclear powered car that runs on road, changes needed in tyres for conduction - $1000
  • Cost of hiring a track & technical staff for implementation on track of 500 m.

Total cost of a pilot run for 500 m track without car - $10000

Please note:- Extending the track from 500 m to kilometers cost only a few dollars per Kilometres as material used is aluminium conductive strips & and a bunch of cheap sensors. 


Timeline

  • Scaled prototype and feasibility study - 6 Months
  • Full scale prototype running 500 Meters - 1 Year
  • Roll out & deployment on public roads - 5 years+


About the author(s)

I am a passionate Innovator, inventor and the winner of 35 grand innovation challenges till date, spanning across various industries solving a variety of problems, I use cross pollination of technology across a industries to solve simple & complex problems. Since climate change is a complex problem that is faced by humanity, I am trying to make novel innovations in this sector through my various innovation projects & inventions.

I am a graduate in Mechanical engineering & I have acquired various professional skills and certifications as part of my innovation projects in multiple fields of Engineering.I am also the founder of Givemechallenge.com an online platform which is an innovation portal for making innovation opportunities accessible to all.


Related Proposals

N.A


References

  1. Nuclear Power
  2. Wireless charging of moving electric vehicles overcomes major hurdle in new Stanford research - BY MARK GOLDEN AND MARK SHWARTZ

  3. Electric cars could soon charge on the move - Economictimes

  4. Qualcomm's inductive charging road could pave the way to new EVs

  5. Israel Tests Wireless Charging Roads for Electric Vehicles

  6. The ‘electric cars aren’t green’ myth debunked

  7. Nuclear Energy Institute - Protecting the Environment

  8. How Nuclear Power Can Stop Global Warming

  9. Sentury & Huagao: The First Graphene Tire Press Conference Finished Successfully