Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Newest recharging idea.

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I thought I had hear all the ideas out there on recharging while driving, but here's something entirely new (from the Tesla Motors latest blog post):

You could use moving parts such as steering wheel, break (brake?) and accelerator pedals...
I suppose we might think up a few more in the same vein:

1) Small children in car seats, gesticulating and foot-tapping passengers -- you might as well harness the potential energy of your ride mates.

2) Side-mounted plungers activated with centrifugal force for twisty roads, along with shock absorber-generators on bumpy surfaces.

3) Convection pipes to funnel cabin heat through a turbine; especially useful for hot days.

4) ?
 
Last edited:
Most of these ideas are pretty silly, but there are a few that might have some merit.
I've read about using the shock absorbers, and that is a real tech. How usefull that actually is, i don't know.
In Norway for house heating the green tech to use is heat pumps (I'm not quite sure what it's called in english, but basically reversed refrigerator) as PV don't work as well and we don't have a tradition for very small wind turbines. As you say if there is a big heat differential between the inside and outside of the car, wouldn't a heat pump system work as a low energy (and low speed) AC to dump the warm air outside the car instead of inside ?

Cobos
 
It seems like those shock absorbers, along with producing energy would be a great way for the computer to control the ride and handling. You simply switch how many of the stator rings are active and affectively control the damping.