At the CEATEC Japan 2010 trade show now being held in Chiba (Oct 5-9), Nissan is exhibiting a futuristic model of a solar-powered wireless charging station for electric vehicles.
Solar Tree: Coming in 2030 to a city near you
The envisioned tree-shaped charging station -- called the "Solar Tree" -- stands 12 meters (39 ft) tall and has three translucent round solar panels that follow the sun across the sky. With an expected conversion efficiency of 30%, the three solar panels together can generate 20 kilowatts of power. At the base of each tree is a clover leaf-shaped wireless charging pad that can recharge batteries from a short distance, without the use of cables or plugs.
As part of the exhibition, Nissan showed off the latest version of its EPORO robot car, which has been outfitted with a wireless power system. In addition to recharging itself under a Solar Tree, the robot can also repower itself on the go by receiving electrical energy via charging lanes on the road.
EPORO robot recharging under a Solar Tree
Solar Trees can be used individually as small-scale charging stations in urban areas, or they can be grouped into forests to produce energy on the scale of power plants. According to Nissan's design, a forest of 1,000 Solar Trees will be able to provide electricity for 7,000 households.
In addition to providing power, Solar Trees can provide some relief from the heat in summer. The translucent solar panels offer protection from UV light, while fine mist emitted from the edges of the panels works to reduce the temperature in the immediate vicinity.
cyn
Insanely awesome! Japan is truely paving the road to the future, now they just need to up their population so people can actually enjoy it in the future! God Bless Nippon.
[]uanDianeMurphree
..Where can I get one of these?! I really hate our crooked electric company.We're still paying for a nuclear reactor in Little Rock on our bills that was already built a few years ago.We get our electricity from Mississippi and was told our area will never get electricity from that plant.Its for Bill Clinton's high class, lowlife, wealthy friends to get cheap elec. for their retirement villages!..I came across this site looking up my friend, Kate Covington (KateTheGreat19 who wrote song for Resident Evil Afterlife game on my MySpace page. Then clicked on Nabuo Uematsu who wrote the music, then President of Japan photos.Where can we get one of these Solar Trees!!
[]SusanDianeMurphree, Marianna, Arkansas
T-rock
Wow wish they could make something like this or better for charging up the many mobile devices out there like cellphones,
[]smartphones, Nintendo DS, laptops etc...
Yardman
This is sweet, I have been thinking about something like this that would be nice to have to get off the grid and produce my own energy. The other PV solutions on the roof are gen 1 but this is gen 3 with a low profile elegant design more pleasing to the eyes. Just think if one or two of these are "planted" on your property and supply your energy needs how independent is that. This looks like a great commercial business opportunity to supply, integrate, install and maintain this as a local business in my home town. Just think of all the home towns there are in "sun" belt areas that this could be viable....wow...we need this now, lets move from concept to commercialization...we can hook-up the electric car re-charging later when those arrive en mass for now just run my home energy needs....
[]motozero
I agree, this is a great answer to energy problems. I have been thinking this for a while now but everyone is told how you need a loan to get solar panels for your home and they are too expensive. I'm assuming one of these "trees" will be 20 grand at least and only large companies (like the electric companies) will be able to purchase, or rich people. But at least it's a start, we need a garage team to make these suckers like 1 grand, then we can start making changes. Companies will FART all over this (making something cost money that should be free) Gotta wait till the private sector gets in on the technology.
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