• RecallMadness@lemmy.nz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    35
    ·
    edit-2
    1 day ago

    It’s a formulation of various hydrocarbons.

    You excite it in a closed chamber and capture the expansion of gasses. You then use this captured energy to make something magnetic spin around next to some coils.

    This in turn will create a flow of electrons you can use to drive a motor.

  • Smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    2 days ago

    I’ve legitimately had someone suggest adding a small wind turbine to a car to generate power to charge the car as it’s moving.

    • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 day ago

      You’re eating the air resistance anyway so probably not the worst idea if it generates a more than negligible amount.

      • Martin@feddit.nu
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        25
        ·
        edit-2
        1 day ago

        It will increase air resistance, so you don’t gain anything (a turbine will need more power to spin when there is an electric load).

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          7
          ·
          1 day ago

          It will increase air resistance,

          Not if you position it, say, in front of the car so that you’re getting energy without getting hit without much additional force. If you somehow don’t need to see, the whole front of the car can be turned into a turbine. Now obviously we’re not making a perpetual motion machine here, but this could theoretically be the air resistance equivalent of regenerative braking.

          • SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            4 hours ago

            Still increases air resistance. It gets hit by air, and that pushes it back into the fuselage.

            Larger aircraft commonly have a ram air turbine (RAT) or Air Driven Generator (ADG) to provide some electrical power and hydraulics in certain emergency situations.

            On CRJs, it’s right up the front: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxgPrpjByTE

            Still delivers a percent or two penalty to fuel burn, and the tiny little generator doesn’t even come remotely close to making up for that.

          • Balder@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            10
            ·
            23 hours ago

            It doesn’t work because the car’s front is shaped to minimize drag, and a turbine would add drag — forcing the motor to work harder to maintain speed. Turbines generate energy by resisting airflow, not letting it slide past. So you’re not harvesting free energy; you’re paying for it with more fuel or battery.

            • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              4 hours ago

              So you’re not harvesting free energy; you’re paying for it with more fuel or battery.

              Of course it’s not free energy, but strictly theoretically if the turbine, say, doubles the air resistance in the area where it’s installed and works at 80% efficiency, then instead of losing A amount of power you’re losing 2A and getting 1.6A, for a total of 0.4A net loss. Now I have no idea if these numbers are even remotely realistic, but that’s kind of beside the point. Of course the turbine would simply be turning battery into less battery, but that’s better than the car’s front turning battery into no battery.

      • FelixCress@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 day ago

        You have just invented a perpetuum mobile machine. The turbine will power the car which, whilst moving, will in turn power the turbine. Pure genious.

  • VitoRobles@lemmy.today
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    1 day ago

    I hated working in startups and I’d get so many wackos pitching their bazillion dollar ideas to create the next Facebook.

  • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    2 days ago

    Simple really:

    (Smaller battery) + (Greater capacity) + (Inexpensive Cost) = More Sales

    Now the secret to achieving all three of those things rather than just two can be revealed to you for a small nine figure sum for the next ten years…

  • ciapatri@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    1 day ago

    So kind of you to take the time to consider his auspicious offer, what with all the millions of messages you receive!