Pothole Power

A newfangled, energy-generating shock absorber that can improve fuel economy owes its origins to the potholes of Boston, reports Anne Eisenberg in the New York Times (6/6/10). It was while a student in Boston, at M.I.T., that Shakeel Avadhany learned that "the bumps and jolts of vehicles on rough roads" could be converted "into usable electricity." So, he and some fellow students designed GenShocks, a shock absorber that can lower "fuel consumption by one to six percent, depending on road conditions."

The bumpier the better. GenShocks "look like ordinary shock absorbers with an electrical power cord at one end. They plug into a power box that regulates the electricity they produce, putting it out at a voltage required by the truck, car or bus." The "kinetic energy of the bounces" generates watts that can run "the vehicle’s windshield wipers, fans or dashboard lights, for example." The technique is known as "energy harvesting," which basically is all about capturing and using the vehicle’s "waste heat."

Edwin L. Thomas, Shakeel’s former M.I.T. professor, explains that when a vehicle hits a pothole, it moves both up and down and sideways. "It’s like a sprinter who has to also run hurdles," he says. But GenShocks, which work on both hybrid and regular vehicles, take that otherwise wasted energy and put it to good use. Shakeel says his pothole shocks cost a bit more than the conventional kind, "but you will get those dollars back through improved fuel economy." He expects GenShocks to be "on the market in the second quarter of 2011."