Is this the future? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Is this the future?

Wonder what kind of traction the surface provides? It looks bumpy and slippery. The concept has merit though.
 
They say its green...but what about the green cost of making the panels? Would be cool though if everything else spouted is close to true.
 
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This is not the future.. and here's why:

1. The initial cost of this will be massive. Imagine all the road work that needs to be done, not just to lay the new panels, but for electricity and wires along every stretch of highway underground.

2. Our roads are not clean. Clear glass is the best way for these cells to collect solar energy, but when things are shiny and clear, you lose traction. From the factory they are already scuffed to have more traction but what happens when it snows? Dirt, salt, tire marks, oil, etc. The efficiency will drop so fast.

3. Asphalt is so much cheaper in terms of cost and labour.

These might be worth it in a parking lot, but not on the roads.
 
I like the concept but not enough resources. "pay for itself" no, taxpayer startup.
 
asphalt is made from oil.

eventually it will be too expensive to lay asphalt.
this might be a good replacement, but it needs a lot more development.
 
Those 18 wheelers will crush that.
Whats wrong with putting it on roofs
 
Wouldn't work in the GTA. The streets/roads are perpetually covered with cars :cool:
 
Seems like the best idea ever, this would change and revolute the world .
 
Extremely cool concept! Would make things much easier and more informative for everyone.

I am curious how well this will work during rain and freezing rains. The claim of keeping the surface warmer should help with the freezing rain to keep the road ways safer for all. But how well does it hold up to being wet and having someone driving the standard 140kph on the 401, then needing to stop? Would there be an improvement in traction since the glass is marked before it is installed?

In a perfect world which will have all road ways replaced with these panels. Would there still be a need for winter tires?
 
Surface traction question:

What are you going to do about traction? What's going to happen to the surface of the Solar Roadways when it rains>

Everyone naturally pictures sliding out of control on a smooth piece of wet glass! Actually, one of our many technical specs is that it be textured to the point that it provides at least the traction that current asphalt roads offer - even in the rain. We hesitate to even call it glass, as it is far from a traditional window pane, but glass is what it is, so glass is what we must call it.

We sent samples of textured glass to a university civil engineering lab for traction testing. We started off being able to stop a car going 40 mph on a wet surface in the required distance. We designed a more and more aggressive surface pattern until we got a call form the lab one day: we'd torn the boot off of the British Pendulum Testing apparatus! We backed off a little and ended up with a texture that can stop a vehicle going 80 mph in the required distance.


Weight question

How much weight can these panels support? Semi-trucks get pretty heavy!

Originally, we were designing toward 80,000 pounds. That was supposed to be the maximum legal limit for a semi-truck. However, we live in logging country and a former logging truck driver informed us that they don't have scales in the woods and that he'd topped out at 124,000 pounds. So we decided that we should go for 150,000 pounds. We then learned that oil companies can get permission to move refinery equipment up to 230,000 pounds on frozen roads, so we decided to shoot for 250,000 pounds.

Both 3D Finite Element Method analysis and actual load testing at civil engineering labs showed that our Solar Road Panels can handle that and more.

Traffic covering the road/ parking lots question

http://www.solarroadways.com/faq.shtml#faqTraffic
 
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