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Ireland's bumpy roads could actually become a boon to electric cars if technology being developed by Audi comes to fruition.
The German company's eROT dampers can actually use the heat and kinetic energy developed by their movement over bumps to generate electricity. "Every pothole, every bump, every curve induces kinetic energy in the car. Today's dampers absorb this energy, which is then lost in the form of heat," said Dr.-Ing. Stefan Knirsch, Board Member for Technical Development at Audi. "With the new electromechanical damper system in the 48-volt electrical system, we put this energy to use. It also presents us and our customers with entirely new possibilities for adjusting the suspension." It can convert the kinetic energy created during compression and rebound into electricity. To do this, a lever arm absorbs the motion of the wheel carrier. The lever arm then transmits this force via a series of gears to an electric motor, which converts it into electricity.
The regeneration output is 100 to 150 watts on average during standard road testing - from three watts on a newly built motorway to 613 watts on a rough secondary road. Under typical customer driving conditions, this equates to a Co2 saving of up to three grammes per kilometre. That could be enough to bring a car down a tax band, or to trickle-charge a hybrid battery as you drive.
Wait, though, it gets better. Because the suspension is an active, computer controlled system it can potentially offer ride and handling benefits too. Audi says that the system "eliminates the mutual dependence of the rebound and compression strokes that limits conventional hydraulic dampers."
It's even good for packaging. Instead of vertical tube-shaped dampers, the eROT system uses components that lie more or less flat, which should reduce the need for bulky intrusions into a car's load space.
There are no immediate plans for production, but the likelihood is that we'll see this system introduced on the second generation of Audi's new hybrids and electric vehicles, probably starting from 2020.