Solar Cars: Only about 20 years ago, many university students and car manufacturers began designing the world’s first solar cars. A typical solar car is packed with around 700 solar cells that utilize sunlight to produce electricity that propels the car. Any excess electricity is transferred to a battery to be stored. Solar cars are also equipped with the regenerative braking system, a major provider of energy for hybrid cars. Currently due to their small size and dependence on sunlight, solar cars are only used in racing events.
Thermoelectrics: Thermoelectrics is solid-state technology, which uses dissimilar materials to generate electricity from a heat input. However, these technologies have proven to be only 6 to 8% efficient. Bypassing the complications involved with shrinking thermoelectrics to a nanoscale, we hope that our Passenger Tire Waste Heat Recovery System will be more effective than these current technologies.