A car’s shocks dissipate a lot of energy when they soak up bumps. Engineers at Tufts University have figured out how to turn that energy into electricity that could be used to power the car. 

The team has built electro-magnetic shocks that are essentially linear generators, using the up-and-down motion of the shock’s travel to generate electricity. The engineers envision using their shocks on hybrid vehicles. They estimate that a 2,500 pound car traveling at 45 mph would recover between 20 and 70 percent of the electricity it uses from the shocks.

The shocks could greatly extend the range of plug-in hybrid vehicles, but they may be put to better use on trucks. Massive rigs have a far greater potential for generating energy—when they hit a bump, tons of force compresses the shock. Good tech, for sure.

Link to Autoblog article
Link to iCars article