Electric car: potholes should provide energy for range
Created: 12/17/2022, 08:00
By: Marcus Efler
Where do electric cars get the power to drive?
BMW is trying an unusual approach that could increase range.
The electric drive is in the fast lane, but one problem is still keeping many car buyers from switching: the shorter range compared to the combustion engine (which will be largely banned in the EU from 2035) and the long charging times.
While e-cars with hydrogen and fuel cells perform more or less identically here, battery-powered vehicles are still well behind.
The manufacturers are trying to increase the range of future model generations with various concepts.
The most obvious idea is to use solar power, as shown by these Australian researchers, for example.
The German solar car Sono Sion, however, could fail shortly before it is ready for series production.
Potholes are possible sources of energy.
(Iconic image) © B. Leitner/Imago
Electric car: potholes should provide energy for range
The Chinese manufacturer Nio, on the other hand, relies on the principle of swapping the batteries in a matter of minutes, and inductive charging while driving could also be an option.
A completely new idea, which sounds a bit strange at first, seems to be pursued by BMW.
Charging an electric car: These ten go the furthest after 20 minutes
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In any case, the online portal CarBuzz discovered the corresponding technology at the German Patent Office.
BMW has registered a process there that extracts energy from potholes, or more precisely: from the movement of the car's shock absorbers, which compensate for bumps in the asphalt.
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Electric car: Energy from the street also makes sense for combustion engines
These are used as a kind of generator.
Instead of absorbing and dissipating the resulting energy via springs or air suspension, it could be stored in the battery and used in this way - not only for the driving battery of electric cars, but also for smaller batteries in combustion engines.
If they still exist, when the BMW patent makes it to series production.
Whether and when that could be the case, however, is still completely open.
