energy of deformation
 

So i had an odd thought, what if we could recover some of the energy lost through the deformation of a tire? obviously a lower rolling resistance would be preferable, but lets say you have reached the limit of current tech for low rolling resistance tires.
How could you recover the energy being lost?

One possible way:

Piezoelectricity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

-soD

...lookup the rolling resistance friction coefficients "difference" between a railroad STEEL wheel and a cars RUBBER wheel.

steel
 

unless theyre planning on installing railroads on all streets i dont see what relevance steels rolling resistance has to do with anything.

the piezoelectric effect looks neat

...the relevance is that it illustrates the 'limit' of energy expenditure/recovery possible!

We have in tire technology an attempt to optimize several factors. One is to maximize friction between the road and tire but at the same time minimize rolling resistance, heat generation, and wear. Electric current can be generated by both piezoelectric pressure and heat energy from thermocouple voltage.