Are you ready to be yet-again amazed by China’s fast adoption of new technologies?
According to Electrek, China is getting ready to build solar roadways, stretches of road with transparent concrete over solar panels, to charge driving cars.
This project is part of the Jinan City Expressway is a 1.2 mile stretch of road formed in three layers. The first one is a base, the second has weight bearing solar panels and the third is a transparent concrete with similar properties with standard asphalt.
Its engineers say that wireless vehicle charging could soon be possible. They add that automated car functions should take advantage of the inherent data in the wired roadway.
While impressive, it’s not the first project of its kind coming from China. Just last September, the city of Jinan completed its first solar roadway, a stretch of road fitted with 790 square yards of solar panels.
Other countries have experimented with solar-powering roads for a while as well. In 2014, the Netherlands debuted a solar powered bike path. France has a 1 km long solar road installation in the village of Tourouvre-au-Perche in Normandy. In the US, the Solar Roadways company from Idaho received a hefty U.S. Government funding.
In case you missed it, here is the world’s largest floating solar power facility, China-based as well.
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