Electric car that charges itself

[EvanH]

Here. The electromagnetic charging pads you can charge devices on, put them in the roadways and have a car with a adapter drive all day long on one charge, then it can charge overnight on the same pad if they install them in parking lots at hotels or something. And you could power them by road side solar panels by day and power grid by night.

[AgentOblivious]

Here. The electromagnetic charging pads you can charge devices on, put them in the roadways and have a car with a adapter drive all day long on one charge, then it can charge overnight on the same pad if they install them in parking lots at hotels or something. And you could power them by road side solar panels by day and power grid by night.

[EvanH]

I know about the solar roadways. But That is for powering the cities. Isn't it? Not cars that drive on them?

[green-lantern]

Here. The electromagnetic charging pads you can charge devices on, put them in the roadways and have a car with a adapter drive all day long on one charge, then it can charge overnight on the same pad if they install them in parking lots at hotels or something. And you could power them by road side solar panels by day and power grid by night.

Yeah I've heard of this. They were talking about putting them at stop lights ect.

[green-lantern]

What you are basically describing is a perpetual motion device. Think about a pendulum, it appears to swing forever, relying on its momentum to move to the top of its arc, and gravity to move back down. What you dont see is small amounts of air resistance and friction at the joint of whatever the string is attached too. This causes the arc to be just ever so slightly less high each swing, less and less until the pendulum stops.

The concept applied here is pretty simple, as you are moving the wheels with the motor you are losing energy into the universe in forms of vibration, sound, and heat (drive train loss, etc). There is no way to regain that energy from the vehicle itself, you need to apply it from the universe (charging station, etc). Its the reason why you see regenerative brakes and not things like alternators charging the battery, the energy required to turn the alternator would even end up with a negative net gain.

Check out the first law of thermodynamics, or conservation of energy for more info.

Also, electric motors and alternators arent very different. If you forcefully turn an electric motor you generate electricity (regenerative braking in hybrids). Taking that and what we have above, ive literally done this in real life.

BTW thanks for the good explanation

[AgentOblivious]

I know about the solar roadways. But That is for powering the cities. Isn't it? Not cars that drive on them?

If you watch the TEDx speech the guy gave he talks about how he started with the idea of slot cars, so ya I think the end game would be to power the cars through the road, and use the road to generate that power.

[green-lantern]

If you watch the TEDx speech the guy gave he talks about how he started with the idea of slot cars, so ya I think the end game would be to power the cars through the road, and use the road to generate that power.

I think there is some concern about people being exposed to the electrical fields. Kind of like living under power lines. ha ha

[IPD]

*filed under "direct exhaust intake"*

[Bluejediz]

IMO electric cars are only a step towards more efficient vehicles...hydrogen is the way to go lol after all it is the most abundant resource in the world!

[IPD]

and hydrogen is also the most inefficient power source being tossed on the table (around 30%, iirc). ethanol looks like liquid gold next to hydrogen; at least when it comes to how easily it can be processed into useable form.