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Problem: Too little ice and snow on the roads

12.10.2001

Due to global warming, there is too little ice and snow on the roads of Iceland in winter.

If the ice disappeared completely, then the Icelanders would give up their habit of driving on studded tires, but the difficulty is precisely that it is too early to give up studs. Driving through ice-free areas, cars not only spoil the road surface, but also raise clouds of fine dust into the air - concrete ground with spikes.

Doctors say that a person who regularly inhales such dust can develop silicosis at best, and lung cancer at worst. The same problem arose in some Scandinavian countries. To study the damage caused by studs, experts from the University of Newcastle (England) are driving a 14-ton truck on studded tires along a concrete ring.

The task of the experiments is to choose a brand of concrete that will better withstand abrasion and dust, from which it will not be so dangerous for the lungs.

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Wireless charging for Toyota electric vehicles 11.12.2013

Toyota Motor Corporation has entered into an agreement with WiTricity Corporation, a manufacturer of induction chargers. The peculiarity of WiTricity's business model is that it does not sell finished products, but licenses for their development. Through the collaboration, Toyota will gain access to WiTricity Corporation technologies. The ultimate goal is to equip both all-electric and hybrid Toyota vehicles with wireless battery charging systems.

Chargers based on WiTricity patents use the classic effect of electromagnetic induction, which involves the interaction of two coils with current. In this case, one of the coils is built into the transmitter connected to the electrical network (it can lie, for example, on the garage floor), and the second coil is located inside the car. The battery starts charging automatically when the car is parked over the transmitter.

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To date, it has not been specified in which Toyota car models WiTricity technology will be used. In August 2013, the Japanese automaker announced plans to add wireless charging capabilities to its green Prius line. At that time, it was about the 2014 Toyota Prius Plug-In model.

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The cost of installing one CHAdeMO charging station is in the range of 20-30 thousand dollars. Such a station makes it possible to charge the batteries in about 20 minutes, although, of course, this is still much longer when compared with the time of refueling gasoline at a conventional gas station.

Tesla Motors is working on a faster "recharge" method. The company equips its vehicles with rechargeable batteries that can be replaced after being discharged at specialized stations. This battery replacement takes only 10 minutes.

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