Video: iMiEV has wind turbine in the grill, solar panel on the roof
I think we have a winner for the greenest car at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. Below the fold is a video all about the Mitsubishi iMiEV Sport concept. It's a plug-in electric car with a cool tear drop shape and a number of cool ways of charging the batteries. The iMiEV's lithium-ion batteries can be charged via a wireless microwave charger in your garage floor which means you don't have to struggle to plug it in.
Not keen on turning your garage in a giant microwave? Don't worry, the iMiEV has solar panels on the roof and micro wind turbines in the front grill. The iMiEV has other strange features like the ability to connect to your computer, in-hub motors and an electric plug that flips open. BTW I think the way you say the car's name is eye My EV, which also gives iMiEV our award for strangest car name at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.
Gallery: Mitsubishi i MiEV Sport for Tokyo
[Source: YouTube and tipster Domenick]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Devils advocate (not) 5:43PM (3/21/2008)
If wind is going to hit the front of the car anyway why not let it hit my handy dandy wind turbine that is linked to the multiple alternators that could help the batterys stay charged the initial charge would happen at home. And everybody that doesnt think solar panels wont work on top of the car must not have a job because I park my car for eight hours when I am at work eight hours of day light would def charge some batterys. You enginering types out there need to grow a pair and quit sayin it cant be done and actually try. If I had listened everytime someone told me no I would probably be on the web telling others that they cant 2.
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Melanie Sands 2:01PM (3/19/2009)
I had this great idea about wind turbines and solar panels for cars
and find others have had it to - but apparently so many woud-be engineers
out there are too lazy to try it out.
One day soon everybody will HAVE to have the guts to try something else,
as gas fuel will be so rare, so why not start now and get a head
start?
An ideal electrical car will have wind turbines AND solar panels.
The air stream will turn the turbines which will generate electricity and
the solar panels will help.
You can't drive like crazy within cities, so speed is not an issue.
carlos 2:09AM (3/30/2009)
It's not a question of will it or won't it - yes, that tiny turbine will generate power, as will a rooftop solar panel. Will it be enough to light a torch - yes. Will it charge your car enough to drive home? No, not unless you work next door.
Build a real wind turbine and a real solar farm and connect them to the grid. Plug cars to the grid. Now you've got the proportions right.
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Thomas Evans 2:10PM (5/19/2009)
How about getting rid of the solar panels, wind turbines, plugs and all of the other junk. Is there some way to build low level electricity generators within or around the wheels allowing the movement of the car to generate electricity and thereby keeping the lithium-ion battery constantly charged?
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GenWaylaid 2:12PM (10/29/2007)
When I was on the Georgia Tech solar car team, we would joke about "Purple Propeller" designs. These were additions that seemed like clever ways to capture more energy but were ultimately counterproductive. The archetype was the following suggestion: Suppose we put a turbine on the front of the car to generate energy from the airflow. What would we do with that energy? Why don't we use it to drive a propeller and generate extra thrust!
The flaw is obvious. Even directly coupled, the turbine/propeller combination does nothing but add drag and sap available energy. In fact, there is no way to use the turbine such that it extracts more energy than it costs. Now here comes Mitsubishi with a literal Purple Propeller (color subject to change)! Here's why theirs is pointless: if there is airflow past that turbine, then turning the turbine will create back-pressure, increasing the pressure in front of the car and thereby increasing drag. If the air is stagnated there, the turbine will not turn at all and is nothing but wasted weight.
Mitsubishi would be better off reducing drag by either making a smaller, more streamlined grille in the first case or by ducting stagnated air away from the front of the car in the second case. Or, they could just omit the Purple Propeller!
The solar panels might be a net boon, provided they don't absorb so much heat the extra energy is wasted on the air conditioning. If you really want to extend an EV's range, try making the accessories like the stereo, A/C, and cockpit displays more efficient.
To give an example of something that is almost a Purple Propeller but not quite, consider regenerative braking. If you never had to stop the car, or only rarely, regen would waste power by adding unnecessary rotating mass to the wheels. When you need to decelerate and accelerate often, however, the energy recapture starts to be worthwhile. Regen would be a Purple Propeller addition if there was a practical way to improve efficiency by not using it at all.
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VoiToi 2:40PM (10/29/2007)
On any EV, regen doesn't add any "rotating mass" to the wheels. The regenerative braking is using the same electric motor as is used for acceleration. OTOH, the controller is more complex when it has to handle that energy and push it into the battery pack.
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OhmExcited 3:29PM (10/29/2007)
If the car is stopped and the wind is blowing, which is then rotating the wind turbine, it is generating power. So the idea is not necessarily violating any laws of physics. The relative velocity of the wind and the car is an obvious variable in the system's ability to store potential energy.
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Chris M 5:18PM (10/29/2007)
I'm betting that the Mitsubishi engineers had installed electric fans to cool the air conditioning condenser coils, and some marketing wonk saw it, completely misunderstood what the fans did and thought they were little windmills.
GenWaylaid: Regenerative braking is not even close to being a "purple propeller". The same motor that propels the car also acts as a generator for regenerative braking, thus not requiring any additional mass.
While solar cells won't help range much, they might provide enough power to help cool the car on sunny days. Several auto companies are considering "solar assisted A/C" as a luxury comfort feature.
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Larry Miller 5:23PM (10/29/2007)
If my cat naps under the car while the microwave charger is operating, will he get cooked? :-)
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Chris M 5:59PM (10/29/2007)
Roast cat? Nah. Microwave ovens use a frequency that is strongly absorbed by water and oils. A microwave power transmitter for car recharging would use a different frequency that is not absorbed by water or oil, as the car may be wet from rain and you wouldn't want to steam the car! There is still a potential risk of microwave arcing, however.
I doubt the "microwave car recharger" will make it to market. A simple electric plug is much cheaper and more efficient, and plugging in is just not that difficult.
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bioburner 6:02PM (10/29/2007)
I'm thinking the wind turbine is only switched "on" when the brakes are applied. This would give the car more braking horsepower than acceleriting horsepower. Admittadly not much. This would also supplement the regen. braking system.
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Domenick 7:11PM (10/29/2007)
I found an article that states that the turbines generate power "when the car is slowing down". So, no purple propeller. >_<
@Chris M: I have to disagree about wireless charging. I think it should be an option along with the plug. For one thing, when used in a public space charging environment, not having a cord reduces infrastructure degradation from general use and vandalism. It also increases the convenience factor for those times when it is raining or very cold and you don't have a garage. Think about this. Hundreds of millions of people COULD get up off the couch and change the tv channel but the only people who do are those who can't find their remote.
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VoiToi 4:54AM (10/30/2007)
I think people *should* have some reason to get up from their couch or from their car ... else they will slowly decay. So the TV remote and wireless charge are evil things !!! ;-)
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dean 2:40PM (10/30/2007)
"struggle to plug in the vehicle"
I had to laugh at that.
Mostly, its a convenience. I am willing to bet that someone will forget to plug in their vehicle and be late for work the next morning.
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michael farber 4:11AM (11/15/2007)
Maybe I'm missing simething here as my generalist approach oftentimes gives new meaning to the word numskull;
Why couldn't an onboard wind turbine be used for both braking(drag) and as a generator for recharging onboard batteries?
Combined that with solar rooftop panels and it wouldn't take as long to cook the cat on the garage floor.
It's a question of supplementing the energy sources to propel the vehicle forward not of substitution.
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