How much re-gen could tires generate?

[bxr140]

But cost, comfort, handling and noise have to be taken into account.

That's what I said.

The same money (or less) could be spend on a single extra solar panel on you roof, and it would generate far more electricity, everyday, even when you are not even driving.

And that solar panel does zero for adding range to your car. This tire does, even when the car isn't in motion. On its own it might not make much of a difference, but as part of a suite of micro-generators it could lead to a very measurable improvement.

And even if goodyear can't make it satisfy all the practical criteria the R&D could lead to some other even better idea...so what's there to lose in embracing the concept?

I really don't understand the FUD/resistance here.

 

[jerry33]

I really don't understand the FUD/resistance here.

It's not FUD or resistance, it's trying to understand how it might work. There are far too many things that appear to be a solution which really aren't (fuel cell cars for example) and some of them are promoted by large companies.

 

[AB4EJ]

As far as the physics behind these tires, it might have to do with static electricity. A tire generates an electric charge while rolling over the road; there are lots of processes that do this (see Van de Graaff generator). The voltages can be very high, but the total amount of power to be extracted is small (where power = voltage X current).