A new type of road that generates electricity as traffic drives over it could mean British motorists will one day become a source of cheap power, according to green breakdown provider, the Environmental Transport Association (ETA).
The Israeli engineers behind the project claim that a 1km stretch of the power-generating asphalt will generate 400 kilowatts – enough power to run 8 small cars.
If the system was installed on every stretch of British motorway, it would generate enough energy to run 34,500 small cars.
Director at the ETA, Andrew Davis said: “The government predicts a massive shift to electric cars, and it may be that roads themselves will provide some of the new fuel – 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.”
The new ‘electric road’ will be tested next month when engineers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology drive over a road embedded with tiny crystals that produce energy when ‘squeezed’ by passing vehicles. 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.
