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If it cut your gas consumption by 75%

Rufus12

Golden Member
Would you buy a car that was partially powered by a wind turbine affixed to the roof? The catch is that the car is pretty damn ugly.
 
Can I still fit through the toll booth?
Does the turbine spin at dangerous speeds to birds/other animals? (a plus)
Does it make a 'Woo woo!' when you drive it?
 
Originally posted by: MoPHo
Can I still fit through the toll booth?
Does the turbine spin at dangerous speeds to birds/other animals? (a plus)
Does it make a 'Woo woo!' when you drive it?

That gave me a nasty image of being behind one of those when it happened. :laugh:
 
Build a car that is powered by a wind turbine and can drive 200 miles at 60mph and you'll win a prize. Unfortunately no one has yet to break the laws of thermodynamics so I'm not holding my breath...
 
Originally posted by: Rufus12
Would you buy a car that was partially powered by a wind turbine affixed to the roof? The catch is that the car is pretty damn ugly.

It would make more sense having it powered by a sail instead of a wind turbine.
 
I actually thought of this concept but doubt it would work.

Solar power / plug in is probably the best bet for a car, especially where it's very sunny. Think about it, you drive 15 minutes, then leave your car parked in the parking lot for 4 hours straight, drive another 15 minutes home for lunch, let it park for 15-30 minutes, drive back to work, let it sit for another 3-4 hours, go home. By then you're probably still sitting on a full charge without even plugging it in. On non sunny days, then you'd just have to plug it in.

The key to plug-in cars though is, they also have to get rid of coal plans and replace with something cleaner. Or offices could maybe have wind turbines that power part of the office and the plugs for cars. I think if our environment + our vehicles + our habbits adapt, we could make a difference. I don't know how well batteries would power a motor at -40 though but I really think if the technology would be worked on more it could get somewhere.

first, the government has to step in and stop the oil industry from patenting all of this, and release current patents. That would never happen.

But to answer the original question, I probably would. If well designed think it would actually look cool.
 
Originally posted by: irishScott
Originally posted by: cHeeZeFacTory
i don't think the thermodynamics will allow that

fixed

That was my first thought, but consider sailboats. So yes it is possible but the car would be quite slow, reliant on ambient wind, and utterly useless.
 
Assuming this is even possible, (it's not) of course I would as long as it's reliable.

To me a vehicle is just a means to get from point A to point B, reliably. Ugliness is irrelevant.
 
Originally posted by: Mojoed
Assuming this is even possible, (it's not) of course I would as long as it's reliable.

To me a vehicle is just a means to get from point A to point B, reliably. Ugliness is irrelevant.

Exactly. A car's a tool, just like a hammer. If it gets the job done, I don't care that much about what it looks like.
 
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
...

The key to plug-in cars though is, they also have to get rid of coal plans and replace with something cleaner. Or offices could maybe have wind turbines that power part of the office and the plugs for cars. I think if our environment + our vehicles + our habbits adapt, we could make a difference. I don't know how well batteries would power a motor at -40 though but I really think if the technology would be worked on more it could get somewhere.

...

I think that'd be the least of their worries. They have block heaters for cars to start in ridiculously cold temps currently. I'm sure we could think of something to help the battery charge as well.
 
Originally posted by: Rufus12
Would you buy a car that was partially powered by a wind turbine affixed to the roof? The catch is that the car is pretty damn ugly.

Umm, you do realize that all the energy to power that wind turbine is going to be coming from the car's motion right? So basically you are using gas to power a wind turbine. And there will be loss inherent in the wind turbine.

So basically you are making your car less fuel efficient by adding a wind turbine.

Someone I knew in college was all excited that he came up with this exact idea, and was getting pumped up about marketing it. :facepalm :roll:
 
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel


first, the government has to step in and stop the oil industry from patenting all of this, and release current patents. That would never happen.

But to answer the original question, I probably would. If well designed think it would actually look cool.


The oil companies don't own all the patents. That's a myth. Besides, even if they did own a patent it wouldn't stop you from making this stuff and using it for yourself.

This wind turbine idea would not work.
 
Originally posted by: bignateyk
Originally posted by: Rufus12
Would you buy a car that was partially powered by a wind turbine affixed to the roof? The catch is that the car is pretty damn ugly.

Umm, you do realize that all the energy to power that wind turbine is going to be coming from the car's motion right? So basically you are using gas to power a wind turbine. And there will be loss inherent in the wind turbine.

So basically you are making your car less fuel efficient by adding a wind turbine.

Someone I knew in college was all excited that he came up with this exact idea, and was getting pumped up about marketing it. :facepalm :roll:

The best you can hope for is that there's a lot of wind resistance on the turbine and it pushes the car like a sail. Since that's the case, you'd be best off using a sail (or a vertical wing, which is just a more advanced sail)
 
The environmentalists wouldn't allow it. If one fixed turbine can kill birds, having a couple hundred smaller ones that actually move around will probably be a lot worse.
 
Originally posted by: MoPHo
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
...

The key to plug-in cars though is, they also have to get rid of coal plans and replace with something cleaner. Or offices could maybe have wind turbines that power part of the office and the plugs for cars. I think if our environment + our vehicles + our habbits adapt, we could make a difference. I don't know how well batteries would power a motor at -40 though but I really think if the technology would be worked on more it could get somewhere.

...

I think that'd be the least of their worries. They have block heaters for cars to start in ridiculously cold temps currently. I'm sure we could think of something to help the battery charge as well.

Yeah was thinking that too. The plug could power both the charger and the block heater, and have some "smartness" to it so both of those devices only power when needed. (ex: when battery reaches a certain temp, power the block heater)
 
Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel


first, the government has to step in and stop the oil industry from patenting all of this, and release current patents. That would never happen.

But to answer the original question, I probably would. If well designed think it would actually look cool.


The oil companies don't own all the patents. That's a myth. Besides, even if they did own a patent it wouldn't stop you from making this stuff and using it for yourself.

This wind turbine idea would not work.

Hmm, so if you used a patented idea for personal use, you could still get away with it? I did not know this.

And yeah the turbine would not work, unless it was designed for when the car is stopped (ex: sitting in the parking lot). So a retractable turbine for when you turn off the car, could be a good concept. A sail for when the car is moving could maybe work for if the wind is pushing the car, the sail could pop up to give it an extra push, but since the car is traveling faster then the wind is pushing, then the sail would maybe actually add more drag. Interesting concept if done properly though. The sail would have to move around to take advantage of the wind direction, and flip down when the wind is against the car.
 
oh hey! I have a great idea! Let's put generators on the car wheels, then after you get the car moving, the wheels will turn the generators. Get the car up to 55mph, then let the generators take over and you wouldn't need to use any more gas for the rest of the trip. (I'm just kidding, but hopefully this illustrates why the idea wouldn't work.)


Also, the bird thing. IIRC, there was one wind tower that was smack dab in the middle of some birds' flyway. And, it killed lots of birds. But the rest of the windmills, for the most part, don't kill birds.
 
Originally posted by: DrPizza
oh hey! I have a great idea! Let's put generators on the car wheels, then after you get the car moving, the wheels will turn the generators. Get the car up to 55mph, then let the generators take over and you wouldn't need to use any more gas for the rest of the trip. (I'm just kidding, but hopefully this illustrates why the idea wouldn't work.)


Also, the bird thing. IIRC, there was one wind tower that was smack dab in the middle of some birds' flyway. And, it killed lots of birds. But the rest of the windmills, for the most part, don't kill birds.

Actually I thought of something similar, I wonder if it would work.

When you apply your brakes, it would actually make it turn a generator which would charge the battery. The resistance of the gears + generator (would be step up gear box) would slow down the car. When you hold down on the brakes harder it would eventually be an actual dead stop (for safety reasons). But if the whole process of braking could be transferred to produce storable energy, I think it would work. Not sure how much energy it would actually create and whether it would even be worth it though. Enough to accelerate back to the original speed maybe? (assuming 100% efficiency)
 
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Originally posted by: DrPizza
oh hey! I have a great idea! Let's put generators on the car wheels, then after you get the car moving, the wheels will turn the generators. Get the car up to 55mph, then let the generators take over and you wouldn't need to use any more gas for the rest of the trip. (I'm just kidding, but hopefully this illustrates why the idea wouldn't work.)


Also, the bird thing. IIRC, there was one wind tower that was smack dab in the middle of some birds' flyway. And, it killed lots of birds. But the rest of the windmills, for the most part, don't kill birds.

Actually I thought of something similar, I wonder if it would work.

When you apply your brakes, it would actually make it turn a generator which would charge the battery. The resistance of the gears + generator (would be step up gear box) would slow down the car. When you hold down on the brakes harder it would eventually be an actual dead stop (for safety reasons). But if the whole process of braking could be transferred to produce storable energy, I think it would work. Not sure how much energy it would actually create and whether it would even be worth it though. Enough to accelerate back to the original speed maybe? (assuming 100% efficiency)

Are you being sarcastic?
 
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Originally posted by: DrPizza
oh hey! I have a great idea! Let's put generators on the car wheels, then after you get the car moving, the wheels will turn the generators. Get the car up to 55mph, then let the generators take over and you wouldn't need to use any more gas for the rest of the trip. (I'm just kidding, but hopefully this illustrates why the idea wouldn't work.)


Also, the bird thing. IIRC, there was one wind tower that was smack dab in the middle of some birds' flyway. And, it killed lots of birds. But the rest of the windmills, for the most part, don't kill birds.

Actually I thought of something similar, I wonder if it would work.

When you apply your brakes, it would actually make it turn a generator which would charge the battery. The resistance of the gears + generator (would be step up gear box) would slow down the car. When you hold down on the brakes harder it would eventually be an actual dead stop (for safety reasons). But if the whole process of braking could be transferred to produce storable energy, I think it would work. Not sure how much energy it would actually create and whether it would even be worth it though. Enough to accelerate back to the original speed maybe? (assuming 100% efficiency)

I can answer the exact amount of energy created... 0. Energy cannot be created or destroyed.

The only energy you could hope to generate by the wind turbine is energy from cross wind. Other then that, you are better off not putting the thing there. If you assume %100 energy conversion success (which pretty much means excluding friction), then you might as well say that the battery is 100% efficient as is the engine. So just charge up the battery once, and use the brakes to constantly convert kinetic energy to electric potential, and viola, you have a perpetual motion machine.
 
Originally posted by: Sukhoi
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Originally posted by: DrPizza
oh hey! I have a great idea! Let's put generators on the car wheels, then after you get the car moving, the wheels will turn the generators. Get the car up to 55mph, then let the generators take over and you wouldn't need to use any more gas for the rest of the trip. (I'm just kidding, but hopefully this illustrates why the idea wouldn't work.)


Also, the bird thing. IIRC, there was one wind tower that was smack dab in the middle of some birds' flyway. And, it killed lots of birds. But the rest of the windmills, for the most part, don't kill birds.

Actually I thought of something similar, I wonder if it would work.

When you apply your brakes, it would actually make it turn a generator which would charge the battery. The resistance of the gears + generator (would be step up gear box) would slow down the car. When you hold down on the brakes harder it would eventually be an actual dead stop (for safety reasons). But if the whole process of braking could be transferred to produce storable energy, I think it would work. Not sure how much energy it would actually create and whether it would even be worth it though. Enough to accelerate back to the original speed maybe? (assuming 100% efficiency)

Are you being sarcastic?

No, I actually wonder if it could work.

When you stop the car you're technically wasting that energy and converting it to friction/heat, so I wonder if somehow it can be used as stored energy. I just can't think of a process that would actually be efficient enough. You can't really do much change to a battery's charge by adding energy to it within a few seconds.

Capacitors maybe? lol


When I was a kid I had this great idea of hooking up a light bulb to a solar panel, then using a flash light to light the panel, which would light the pannel, then the light would hit the pannel, etc... then add something to it and it would have unlimited power. Of course, tha would not work, but as a kid I knew nothing about newton's laws lol.
 
Originally posted by: Sukhoi
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Originally posted by: DrPizza
oh hey! I have a great idea! Let's put generators on the car wheels, then after you get the car moving, the wheels will turn the generators. Get the car up to 55mph, then let the generators take over and you wouldn't need to use any more gas for the rest of the trip. (I'm just kidding, but hopefully this illustrates why the idea wouldn't work.)


Also, the bird thing. IIRC, there was one wind tower that was smack dab in the middle of some birds' flyway. And, it killed lots of birds. But the rest of the windmills, for the most part, don't kill birds.

Actually I thought of something similar, I wonder if it would work.

When you apply your brakes, it would actually make it turn a generator which would charge the battery. The resistance of the gears + generator (would be step up gear box) would slow down the car. When you hold down on the brakes harder it would eventually be an actual dead stop (for safety reasons). But if the whole process of braking could be transferred to produce storable energy, I think it would work. Not sure how much energy it would actually create and whether it would even be worth it though. Enough to accelerate back to the original speed maybe? (assuming 100% efficiency)

Are you being sarcastic?

I hope so, but if not:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_braking
 
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