Using a car’s shock absorbers to recharge the battery of an electric car during their travel is an attractive idea and it’s a principle that really exists and was tested a long time ago. Since the beginning of the 2000s, researchers have been working on the subject and certain industrialistsautomobileautomobile have already taken action.
After a few other rough concepts about the technology that never really caught on, in 2009 researchers at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)) had developed the very first hydraulic regenerative active suspension. Called GenShock, it was essentially used to force the suspension to go in one direction to eliminate the need for a jack when replacing a wheel. The system also made it possible to recoverenergyenergy. The concept interested manufacturers, but was never exploited. It wasn’t until 2015 that Audi developed a system called eROT. The idea was above all to improve comfort, with the added bonus of energy recovery. The system could accumulate up to 150 W on average. Nothing spectacular then.
Thermal engine cars in the viewfinder
This same process was improved by Audi four years ago. Here again, energy recovery was not the priority, but optimization of performance when cornering. Finally, after a few other attempts, last year the company ClearMotion marketed an active suspension system for the Chinese NIO. Once again, it’s about improving handling, even if energy recovery remains on the agenda. In any case, it seems clear that this electricity generation capacity is not sufficient for it to be put forward, as is the case for the braking system of electric vehicles.
But it is perhaps in thermal vehicles that this process could find a future. Italian, American and Mexican researchers recently published an article in the journal Applied Energy. They determined that generating energy through suspension alone could well reduce the broadcastsbroadcasts of carboncarbon five grams per kilometer. That is a reduction of 5% in the total maximum emissions authorized by European regulations.
