BMW thinks it can turn speed bumps into energy for its EVs

A new patent from BMW may unlock the energy-generating potential of one of America’s most defining modern features: a woefully inadequate and underfunded road infrastructure.

Car enthusiast news site CarBuzz unearthed a document from the German national patent office that reveals a new suspension design, which, if developed and put into production, would allow a car to gather electricity generated from bumps in the road.

The patent, which was independently located and verified by The Verge, could represent a new way to charge an electric vehicle’s battery through normal, everyday driving whenever things get bumpy — which, for a lot of us, is basically all of the time.

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