NationStates Jolt Archive

Okay...think about Wind power plants. They generate electricity by catching wind, making the turbines turn...etc.

What if you took that concept, and applied it to a car? The fast you drove, the more electricity the turbine could generate. Of course, it would be impossible to make the car purely wind...but you might eventually be able to turn it into hydrowind or solarwind powered.

The only problem is that if the wind was blowing in the direction you were driving and at the same speed as you, you'd probably not get the turbines to turn very much.

Possible idea. But yah the direction of the wind could have a rather detremental effect. Driving through residential zones would kill your car, or kill other people as those zones are removed to allow people to keep their cars running.

Driving through residential zones would kill your car, or kill other people as those zones are removed to allow people to keep their cars running.
Huh?

dumb idea. Electric potential energy generated will equal the amout of kinetic energy lost (with some wastage in between i assume) ie, the amount the car will slow down. This means that the slower the car is going, the more electricity is created untill the point of optimum efficiency is reached when the car stops completely and energy input from the engine equall the energy output gernerated as electricity. Once the car stops, you have defeated the purpose of having a car in the first place.

the extra energy used to overcome the extra wind resistance is more than the energy the wind turbines can contribute. It's more efficient to keep charging the battery the way it is now

It is simple physics, generators are not free turning - they require energy to turn. Any wind use to turn a generator will meet with resistance - which translates into drag. Since no generator is even close to 50% efficient, let alone 100%, the energy provided would never equal the energy required to compensate for the resistance, or drag, on the vehicle. The wind generators would actually make any other onboard power system work harder, like the alternator or generator on your car.

Solar would have a better chance, but again the efficiency is problematic. A 10' square area of sunlight just does not have enough juice to move a 1000 pound vehicle and it's accessories - even at 100% efficiency. But at least it would contrubute something (a bit more than required to run a CD player)

I hadn't thought about the wind before (could be a good way to generate at least some more energy. I think that multiple enrgy source cars is a good idea.); when I first hear about electric cars I thought a great way to get some energy back is through the spinning of the wheels. I know they have recently implemented something that uses the tires rotation to generate electricity during braking, but why not during movement time?

Eh...it's what all these guys are hitting on which now makes me feel dumb. Something I knew but remember too late. It's called Back-EMF (isn't it?).

Although if you were doing it when braking, it'd serve two purposes. 1) Generate electricity. 2) Assist in slowing down the car, without making any contact with the axel even...

Brakes on electric cars already dowork to generate electricity. I don't know how the system works though, but you might want to check t out. It is probably more direct then popping up little fans when the brakes are hit.

Also, they would get frozen up in the winter.

And it's the laws you are looking for are:
Newton's 2nd law of motion (i believe it's this one) - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction - meaning the fan would slow the car equally to the amount of energy applied to it by the wind.
The 2nd law of thermodynamics - In every trasfer of energy, some is lost to the environment - meaning that the fan could not generate as much as it takes to turn it.

Brakes on electric cars already dowork to generate electricity. I don't know how the system works though, but you might want to check t out. It is probably more direct then popping up little fans when the brakes are hit.

Also, they would get frozen up in the winter.

And it's the laws you are looking for are:
Newton's 2nd law of motion (i believe it's this one) - Every action has an equal and opposite reaction - meaning the fan would slow the car equally to the amount of energy applied to it by the wind.
The 2nd law of thermodynamics - In every trasfer of energy, some is lost to the environment - meaning that the fan could not generate as much as it takes to turn it.
Uh...there are also laws that are more specific to electric generators/motors, which are the laws we're talking about...and they're not fans.

with some wastage in between i assume

Current best generator/alternator that I have seen is roughly 60% efficent (so 40% lost)


So figuring in the drag that a turbine would create ... it would only turn 60% of that back into energy ... so it would be VERY detremental


Brakes on electric cars already dowork to generate electricity. I don't know how the system works though, but you might want to check t out. It is probably more direct then popping up little fans when the brakes are hit.

The simplified explination is turning the electric motors back into generators and storing the energy in batteries or capacitors

I've an idea as to how the brakes work, but it's kind of hard for me to explain...but yea.