GOODYEAR RELEASES ELECTRICITY-GENERATING TIRE CONCEPT

We’ve been getting a lot of positive news about electric cars recently. This week at the Geneva International Auto Show, Goodyear unveiled a new concept tire called the BH03. While we don’t know why it is called that, we do know that Goodyear’s new tire looks radical and could potentially generate electricity for electric cars by converting the friction heat of the tire on the road. Check out the video below…

The tire will collect heat in multiple ways, primarily from the friction heat, but also the heat generated by tire flex. The most interesting thing about these tires is that they can still collect heat while not moving! Small patches on the tire’s thermo-piezoelectric layer can collect heat from the sun on a hot day.

Watch the concept video:

More photos:

While this is still just a concept, with no clear way to power the car and no release date, we are excited by the potential. What do you think? Do you think this technology is practical and could be available in electric cars soon?

• deafgun
  As much as the idea is intriguing, I wonder if hitting the potholes will create more electricity? But its a wonderful idea that sun facing tires can also produce power for the car while either parked or on the road.
• GEA
  Excellent idea! However, durability and ROI will need to be proven before I would purchase.
• http://solar-power-now.com/ Solar-Power-Now.com
  Amazing tire technology. Yes, everything is starting to really look good for a full adoption of electric vehicles in the near future. These tires are just one of many tech advances in this space.
  • zeetz2004
    My limited knowledge about piezoelectricity generation prohibits me from making too many assumptions, but I’m learning…….apparently without friction or flexing movement of any kind, is not necessary, to generate electricity…….you good folks are probably more knowledgable than I am, but I am a hobby inventor w/ a sketchpad,……and after researching the propulsion of the “Mars Rover,”…I think it’s called, the builders are basically taking a raw heat source, (low grade, low emission radiation from spent uranium, and taking the “direct emitted heat….and converting it from direct heat to a direct conversion to electricity…with nothing rotating, in a circular fashion, around magnets or stators,,,,,,,,someone has the technology to directly take any heat source…and directly & spontaneously emit electricity,….are the giant automakers hiding this technology…….this would solve the problems of ‘range extenders’ for vehicles like Tesla….& Nissan Leaf cars……this would seriously jeopardize oil company profits, however…the conversation about generating electricity is becoming fascinating…gigantic amounts of static electricity is present all over our planet.
• Charles F. Easter
  Stupid, increasing Drag to produce power requires more power to drive the car.
  • Dr_StrangeKill
    It’s stupid to assume that this would increase drag. If, say, they decided to put a coil in the center of the tire, and rotate a magnet around it as the tire rotates to generate electricity, THAT would increase drag, as you would have fundamentally changed the function of the tire. While it WOULD generate electricity, you are correct to assume that it would NOT produce MORE power than was input to it. Think of a hand crank generator. You twist the crank, and it produces electricity, but it never produces ENOUGH electricity to continue turning the crank. YOU have to input power to the crank, which it converts into electricity.

    The difference between my simple and overly simplified example above, and the tires goodyear are creating, is that you are not ADDING any new function to the tire. Instead, they have simply found a way, by using the fundamental properties of the materials used to create the tire, to HARNESS power that ALL of our tires CONSTANTLY generate. Namely: heat, and friction. The piezoelectric materials used in the tire do not require additional input to generate energy. Rather, by the natural flexing of the tire on the road (the same flex that YOUR tires exhibit during everyday travel,) the material generates an electric charge. See the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eam1-9FDD-Y or this wiki article for more information about piezoelectric materials: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piezoelectricity.

    TL;DR: THEY ARENT INCREASING DRAG, BUT HARNESSING THE NATURAL HEAT AND FRICTION ALL TIRES EXPERIENCE WITH REALLY COOL MATERIALS
• Dingo
  how MUCH electricity??!
• John Moore
  No. Just no.
• Miles Harding
  I’m looking forward to a long free lunch at the release!

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FAMILY-SIZED SOLAR CAR TO RACE IN WORLD SOLAR CHALLENGE

Solar Team Great Britain has started a kickstarter page to help fund their design for entry in the 2017 World Solar Challenge. Founder Steven Heape leads a team of volunteers from many different disciplines, companies and universities working on a family-sized solar car to compete in the cruiser class. “Cruiser Class is about two or more seats. It’s about a practical car,” says Heape.

The car will carry passengers and is designed to be road legal in the UK. The race itself covers 3,022km from Darwin to Adelaide. In the cruiser class, the winner must balance speed , practicality and energy efficiency. A typical family car would consume approximately 5,000 kWh on the route. In the 2013 race a four-seater solar car completed the route with an energy consumption of only 64 kWh.

The 2017 challenge takes place from October 8-15. The team has already been to Australia and driven the route to gather data. They plan to begin road testing the vehicle in April. If successful the car will be shipped to Australia in July.

The purpose of the project is to raise awareness of the need for clean transportation alternatives and to inspire students and young professionals to work towards sustainable projects. The kickstarter page has a goal of £20,000 by February 22nd. This will cover 5% of the funds needed. The remaining funds will be provided by over a dozen sponsors.

What do you think? Leave your comments below…

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NISSAN LAUNCHES 7-SEATER ELECTRIC MINIVAN

Ever wanted to own an electric car, but didn’t think any of the current options were practical? Think again! Nissan is turning over a new leaf with it’s new 100% electric e-NV200 — a 7-seater electric minivan — perfect for cargo, families and even taxis. Previously only available as a 5-seater, the new model has two seats in the front, three in the middle and two in the rear. The new model was debuted at the recent 2015 Geneva Motor Show, and will go on sale in Europe in April.

Luggage capacity of the new minivan is 2.94 cubic meters. Jean-Pierre Diernaz, Nissan’s director of electric vehicles stated “We have always planned to offer a higher-seating capacity version of the Nissan e-NV200. Marketplace demand has meant we have moved this introduction forward by several months to satisfy this need. Nissan has had requests from taxi companies, VIP transfer services, hotels and private motorists who are interested in buying this uniquely flexible and capable vehicle.”

It’s fantastic to see a company working this hard to produce practical solutions. Nice work Nissan! Let’s hope this trend continues, as we’d really like to see a lot more electric vehicles on the road. Check out the video below to see the e-NV200 at work!

Official website: Nissan e-NV200

Your thoughts? Leave a comment…

• JH
  N7 e. Now they only need to add about 70kWh to the battery and introduce a a real super charging capability and they will have a winner on their hands.

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TOP 10 GREEN CARS – 2015 VANCOUVER AUTO SHOW

This Tuesday we had a unique opportunity to preview the Vancouver International Auto Show. This year’s show features a wide variety of electric, hydrogen and hybrid-electric vehicles. We took full advantage and we’re absolutely thrilled to see so many manufacturers putting research and development into clean transportation technologies. Almost every manufacturer had something future-friendly to offer.

With so many vehicles to choose from, we had a hard time narrowing down our top ten green cars. So we’ll focus on the electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Scroll down for photos and links to our favorite production models and concepts (in no particular order).

BMW i3

Engine: Full Electric
Visit the BMW i3 website

Chevy VOLT

Engine: Full Electric
Visit the Chevy VOLT website

Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell

Engine: Hydrogen Fuel Cell
Visit the Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell website

KIA SOUL EV

Engine: Full Electric
(Winner of the 2015 AJAC Canadian Green Car of the Year)
Visit the KIA SOUL EV website

Mercedes Benz Smart fortwo electric

Engine: Full Electric
Visit the Smart fortwo electric website

Mitsubishi i-MiEV

Engine: Full Electric
Visit the Mitsubishi i-MiEV website

Nissan BladeGlider

Engine: Full Electric (Concept)
Visit the Nissan BladeGlider website

Nissan LEAF

Engine: Full Electric
Visit the Nissan LEAF website

Toyota i-ROAD

Engine: Full Electric (Concept)
Visit the Toyota i-ROAD website

Toyota Mirai

Engine: Hydrogen Fuel Cell (Concept)
Visit the Toyota Mirai website

All photos by Alex Ramon.

Which one of these is your favorite? Leave your comments below…

• random guy
  a green car show. I need to go to one of those
• Jonas Blomberg
  Mirai is my favourite. It showed the hydrogen naysayers to be wrong. Musk and Tesla are going to get a lot of fossil free competition!
• kurt
  i prefer the research into hydrogen over electrical although it is an older technology i feel their is a higher improvement rate and can provide a highly efficient end result
• http://solar-power-now.com/ Solar-Power-Now.com
  Great concept cars! The future of transportation is green!
• Jonas Blomberg
  Mirai is my favourite. In the future I would like to see hydrogen-battery hybrids.That would lower the cost of emission-free transport and join the best of the two major alternatives.
• Ma Beliv
  No tesla??? Quite weird isn’t???
• Ma Beliv
  Mirai won’t survived. Too complicated and hydrogen too expensive to make and too expensive to buy. So wrong. What is the point using it?? Electric is so simple and so cheap running it. It is the cheapest way and the engine is so simple. No muffler, starter, no radiater….no nothing. It is the futur.

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