One of the greatest concerns surrounding smart electric cars is that they can only run for a certain period of time before they need to get their batteries charged. There is always a need for a vehicle like this to find a power station where it can be properly charged in. The new technology of energizing smart cars could help to change that in the future. One point to note entails the use of drones.
Amazon, one of the world’s top online retailers, filed an application for a patent on a new drone in 2014. This patent is for a drone that can link up to a smart car and deliver electricity to the vehicle while it is in motion.
Such a development comes as the smart car industry continues to grow. But even as it continues to evolve and build up, the process for getting this set up ready might be complicated and hard to handle.
How does charging work?
This distinct technology that could be used on smart transport cars is worth noticing. But it is not something that can be found anywhere. The driver would have to put in a good deal of effort just to get a drone to come out to power up a vehicle.
As the smart car’s battery is low on power, the vehicle will link up to a central server. That server connects to the car’s computer system to analyze how much energy is needed for the vehicle to get to a certain destination.
After that data is reviewed and the proper form of authentication is sent out, the car will send out a signal for a drone to come out to provide battery power to that car. Wireless energy transfer is used to charge the battery up.
As for the drone, it could get energy by landing on top of a street light. It could use a specific street light to collect energy so it could go as far as it can. Amazon would have to get a series of individual lights installed all around the country for the drone to be capable of making a full cross-country trip while having enough room to handle all the needs electric cars have.
This is an intriguing feature for smart cars but it would require plenty of GPS accuracy. It might also take a bit of extra time for the drone to come out depending on where the nearest drone is and if there are any available at a certain time. But if used properly, it could be a massive revolution in the smart car industry. It would allow smart vehicles to keep on running as long as they want to be provided enough drones are available and people can use them as they are required.
Could charging by drones work?
This smart transport function could be intriguing but there are obvious concerns over how Amazon or any other entity would be able to produce such a system. It would require several charging spots on street lights around the country. It could require electric car owners to spend a sizeable amount of money just to get a link up to these drones.
Also, there are concerns over how drones can only go to certain places at a given time. There are often limits over where drones can travel based on factors like how high up spots are and whether airborne materials could be deemed suspicious items that cannot fly over specific spaces at a given time.
There are also worries about how well batteries can be charged without wires. Although a science project at Stanford University showed that electric vehicles can be charged wirelessly, only a small amount of power was utilized in the process. This is a promising solution that could work well for many smart cars but it could be a problem if the wireless process cannot get enough energy out within a short period of time.
This smart transport feature could be useful in the future as it keeps smart cars from having to stop all the time at battery charging stations. By keeping a car from having to waste time getting around and powering up so often it becomes easier for a smart car to stay functional.
