Although electric vehicles are vastly more environmentally friendly than gas-powered cars, there are still environmental drawbacks to their usage, including the fact that much of the electricity we rely on comes from non-renewable, dirty energy sources such as gas and coal.
To address this problem and allow people to power their EVs with clean energy from renewable sources, one company has developed what it is calling "the world's only hybrid generating system powered by both wind and sun."
The aptly named Wind & Solar Tower — which harvests energy from the wind and sun to power EVs — has been in development since 2007, initially as an energy source for farms. But its inventor, Jim Bardia, later pivoted to make it into a "self-powered high-capacity electric vehicle charging system that operates without adding to grid load."
"Having a Wind and Solar Tower is like having a gas station with your own oil well," Bardia told EV Pulse. "It gives you a lot of flexibility when you don't have to buy the electricity."
According to the product's website, the Wind & Solar Tower generates 234,154 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, which is enough to power an EV for 810,000 miles.
The benefits of harvesting clean, renewable energy to power EVs practically go without saying, as the solution could save users money in the long run while also significantly decreasing pollution.
"We can't spend billions of dollars to build additional power plants that will increase pollution by burning more fossil fuels. Using more wind, solar and hydroelectric power is the key to survival of our grid and the continuation of the comfortable lives we've come to enjoy," Bardia told Times Live.
As for when it will appear on the market, EV owners hoping to generate their own electricity to power their cars will have to wait a bit yet — the Wind & Solar Tower recently debuted at the Detroit Auto Show, and Bardia is currently "actively negotiating the financing for a worldwide buildout of this practical, pollution-free EV charging system."
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the coolest innovations improving our lives and saving our planet.
Cool Picks
