91–100 of 399 posts
What would be great to see is what's the energy balance between tesla towing another tesla at this speed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the wind at his back is key here. His car was acting like a wind turbine
I think OP meant winding and not windy, but even if not, Teslas (and any other car) are designed to be aerodynamic, not the opposite, so it's quite impossible to yield more energy than it cost in that scenario, even ignoring motor efficiency, regenerative braking efficiency, and every other real world inefficiency.
Why not design them to be aerodynamic for headwinds, and maximize wind-resistance for tailwinds? I wonder how much energy would be gained.
It seems like the tire wear wouldn't be worth it. You're pulling the tires at almost 100 horsepower of energy transfer. Sure, neat for a video gag though.
Hah, don't try it in Europe either, max towing speed in Europe is 40km/h or 25mph. I guess a tow truck with a bed that has a rolling road would be an idea, prop up the car so the weight of the car isn't actually exerting force that makes the wheels harder to turn/cause extra wear. Or the "rolling road" can be replaced be a contraption that attaches to the wheels by e.g. its rims, and spins it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is fascinating. So they are essentially harvesting the gravitational potential energy of the iron ore at altitude to charge the batteries (and then some) for the cargoless return trip. Outstanding.
Reminds me of this dam operation around here that pumps water up to a mountain top reservoir during the day when power is cheap and then lets it go at night when it can generate and sell the electricity for more money. I was always in awe of the lake size battery they created.
The most spectacular example of regenerative braking are trains that are used in Scandinavia, heavily loaded with iron ore that is transported to the coast: "In Scandinavia the Kiruna to Narvik electrified railway carries iron ore on the steeply-graded route from the mines in Kiruna, in the north of Sweden, down to the port of Narvik in Norway to this day. The rail cars are full of thousands of tons of iron ore on th…
The heavy iron ore is essentially a large battery storing gravitational energy. In a way it's just another natural energy source. Maybe in the future clean power can be generated from pulling down mountains.
We have trains in chicago that reach whiskers up to charging lines above them. Same as the trolley systems in San Francisco. What if every major city to city freeway stretch had these in a lane for electric vehicles?
Seems like a lot of physical infrastructure spread out over a lot of area for little gain. Little gain because it doesn't feel like charging at fixed stations is so bad, and it's not something folks need to do that often. There's other challenges too. You'd also need to build some system for billing, such that people don't start to steal power. Do we trust the cars to meter themselves? Or do we try to have the line m…
I think people would like very much never having to charge their cars as long as they remain in the city.
We have trains in chicago that reach whiskers up to charging lines above them. Same as the trolley systems in San Francisco. What if every major city to city freeway stretch had these in a lane for electric vehicles?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reminds me of this dam operation around here that pumps water up to a mountain top reservoir during the day when power is cheap and then lets it go at night when it can generate and sell the electricity for more money. I was always in awe of the lake size battery they created.
Maybe this could be applied to water towers? That's a lot of potential energy just sitting there.
The most spectacular example of regenerative braking are trains that are used in Scandinavia, heavily loaded with iron ore that is transported to the coast: "In Scandinavia the Kiruna to Narvik electrified railway carries iron ore on the steeply-graded route from the mines in Kiruna, in the north of Sweden, down to the port of Narvik in Norway to this day. The rail cars are full of thousands of tons of iron ore on th…