I've thought about a system that would consist of magnets embeded in the roadways, and all of the cars would have magnet and sensor systems that swetched polarity to drive the car along with the magnets in the road. The cars could also have electric motors to drive off road or on roads without the magnetic system. The cars would be super efficient. No fuel consumption whatsoever, the magnets reactions would charge the systems and the batteries to drive the electric motor.



Thats a long ways off though.



Roads would still LOOK normal on the surface, so conventional vehicles could also be driven on them normally.

 

[quote name='94touring' date='Aug 10 2005, 03:14 PM'];;

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looks like a bunny

 

..... why did it work for me. i mean when 94 did it it looks like a bunny...lol

 

Just so you know guys there is no such thing as perpetual motion or free energy.



Mark

 

[quote name='inanimate_object' date='Aug 11 2005, 02:01 PM']Just so you know guys there is no such thing as perpetual motion or free energy.



Mark


[/quote]





no, but you can minimize the costs to a negligible amount.

 

[quote name='94touring' date='Aug 10 2005, 05:07 PM']No friction.


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Except air, and dead hobos.

 

Think about it this way:



Energy has got to come from somewhere, and as far as earth goes, it all comes from the sun.



With your electric roads, energy would have to come from the sun, be converted into electricity, be sent to the roads, than be converted into motion. Lots of room for inefficiencies and losses.



The short answer to reduced energy consumption AND saving the planet is people making smarter choices.



There is a statistic somewhere that says by increasing GM full sized truck (and only GM full sized truck) mileage by 1 mpg, the US could save 10's of millions of barrels of oil every year. So imagine if everyone buying a new car actually looked at what they needed in a car, and picked up something that got 5 mpg better than their original intention.



I know all of the counter arguements, so here are my killers:



1. The US will remain "The land of the free" a lot longer if everyone makes slightly smarter choices.

2. Running to the home depot 2× a year does not make you "NEED" a pickup or SUV. These places have delivery, and the difference in gas cost and car payments in a MONTH more than makes up for the cost of a years worth of deliveries!

3. The most survivable accidents are the ones that never happen, so an excellent handling and braking car is infinitely safer than a pig with a good crash rating.



[/rant]

 

The roads I proposed wouldn't be electric at all. They would require no wiring or anything. There would be stationary non switching magnets embedded in the asphault. They would have to be large magnets, but still just magnets. The cars would have magnets front center and rear all with independet switchable polarity to pull and push against the magnets in the roadbed.



there could also be a set of wheels under the car that don't touch the road that spin in reaction to passing over the magnets and in turn spin an alternator (or multiple ones) to charge the cars systems.

 

I prefer brownian motion

 

What about all the energy required to make these huge magnets?



Mark