An Abundant and Renewable Potential Energy Source: Harvestable Energy under Vehicle Wheels

Abstract

Approaches for energy harvesting from rotating vehicle tires have been investigated for years; however, where the harvestable energy is actually generated has not been discussed so far. For the first time, the potentially harvestable energy under vehicle wheels, as a real energy source, is discovered. Estimations show that the global potentially harvestable energy from the vehicle wheels could be 3.26 × 10¹¹ kW, equivalent to 14 500 times the installed capacity of the worldwide largest hydraulic power plant, Three Gorges Dam of China; 36.7% saving of a vehicle's fuel consumption could be achieved if this potential energy could be totally harvested. State-of-the-art energy harvesting techniques can only extract a negligibly small amount of the energy under vehicle wheels, calling for revolutionary new energy harvesting techniques.

Keywords: energy harvesting; energy saving; renewable energy; vehicle wheels.