Jeep Has Designed A Wind-Powered SUV

Jeeps are great for getting wind in your hair, but can they run on it? That seems to be the point of several patent applications covering various versions of a “Wind Harness for a Vehicle” that were recently filed by Jeep’s parent company Stellantis.

The patents feature several different methods that incorporate tiny wind turbines into the body of a vehicle that looks like a generic Jeep SUV.

They’re meant to generate electricity, although the documents don’t specify the vehicles as being all-electric. However, small solar panels have previously been used on vehicles to charge auxiliary batteries in both electric and internal combustion engine vehicles.

One depicts channels built into the roof that direct air to turbines located on either side of the tailgate where the air flow would presumably leave the vehicle. The others place turbines in grille-like openings in the vehicle’s front fascia.

What’s not detailed is the physics behind the designs. Energy is a constant, after all. Turbines would presumably create drag, and the extra energy used to overcome this to spin them would likely be more than they produce.

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Ambient wind could potentially be harvested while a vehicle is parked, along with the airflow created as it rolls downhill, but the regenerative braking in a hybrid or electric vehicle is already used to charge batteries in this scenario, so its not clear how the turbines would improve upon that proven technology.

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We might never know, as Jeep has not announced any plans to develop the designs for a production vehicle and they may just end up becoming dust in the wind as many patents are.