Commute by Car and Help the Environment

Could a tyre rolling over a stretch of road generate energy? According to the Environmental Transport Association (ETA), Britain’s largest charity focused upon transport and the environment, a new tyre of road developed in Israel could become such a source of cheap power.

The engineers behind the project claim that a one-kilometre stretch of the power-generating asphalt will generate 400 kilowatts – enough power to run eight small cars. If the system was installed on every stretch of British motorway, adds the ETA it would generate enough energy to run 34,500 small cars.

“The government predicts a massive shift to electric cars, and it may be that roads themselves will provide some of the new fuel,” says ETA director Andrew Davis. “Certain vehicles could be powered entirely by the roads on which they drive.

“If these electric roads can be put in place without harm to the environment they would be a silver lining to the problem of heavy traffic,” he added.

The road contains tiny piezoelectric crystals that produce electricity when squeezed. The crystals are embedded in the road itself and when a vehicle passes over them they generate a small electrical charge. Engineers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology will test the road surface in January.