Wireless Vision Of The Future Fuel Station Turns Urban Mobility On Its Head

They are convinced that electric vehicles and green energy are major features of the urban landscape (Nissan)

The conventional refueling infrastructure model is obsolete according to Jean-Pierre Diernaz, director of electric vehicles at Nissan. The Japanese carmaker Nissan and the London-based architecture firm Foster + Partners unveiled their “fully connected vision of the future of mobility” at the 86th International Motor Show in Geneva. With their wireless vision, they intend to change the urban mobility. After a collaboration, carried out over of a 12-month period, both partners offer an insight into their world with over-the-air connectivity technologies.

Their two minutes video presentation illustrates how cities can evolve with alternative forms of fuel and charging technologies. They are convinced that electric vehicles and green energy are major features of the urban landscape. It cannot be ruled out that renewables provide the globally needed energy by 2050. Gasoline-powered cars will be probably out-of-date when their wireless vision becomes reality one day.

“Integrating zero emission technologies into the built environment is vital in creating smarter, more sustainable cities. That commitment must extend far beyond the car – it must sit at the heart of everything we do.” David Nelson, Co-Head of Design, Foster + Partners, says.

The way of using and distributing energy across cities may be turned upside down. Their visionary concept of refueling your car has nothing to do with a common dispenser. Autonomous parking, autonomous drive technologies, holistic integration of battery storages, wireless charging at the roadside, in parking garages or anywhere else with solar generated electricity are components of their sustainable and innovative refueling network for the future urban mobility.

Nissan and Foster + Partners are not the only ones having a wireless vision and researching the future mobility. Mid of 2015, the Mobility Transformation Center (MTC) team at the University of Michigan inaugurated a huge research facility for connected and automated vehicles. They are already doing practical research. Theory is already a thing of the past with their 32-acre simulated urban and suburban traffic infrastructure. Additionally, a German research team at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Germany demonstrates in reality that solar power can charge personal electric cars. They unveiled its energy management system to incorporate electric cars into the household energy network and create charging itineraries.