The main idea is to use as many sources of energy for the car as possible. Some have been discussed here but not all together..

A hydrogen-IC rotary engine and electric motor share the drive shaft. The motor can become an alternator going downhill. The motor and engine alternate as required by torque, loads and grades.

A hi-storage electro-magnetic battery (enclosed frictionless flywheel) stores electricity.

Coated in solar panels to get that energy too.

Air turbines are worked by the car moving along. Wind either in front or behind the car would then generate electricity (the most half-baked part, can the croissantiers here tell me why?)

Pedals - for driver and passengers to add some more energy as they feel energetic - attached to alternator. This is in another thread that got me in here.

Excess electricity generates hydrogen by electrolysis, ie. fuel for the engine, from water exhaust collected.

Plug your car into the mains every night to stock up for the next morning.

Light but strong body. Weight provided by passengers and luggage.

GPS system plots out your route in terms of gradients and traffic conditions and pre-programs the drive train.

The idea is to get a hydrogen car on the road without having to wait for the infrastructure.

Any other energy sources welcome - any idea how we could use rain?
-- Turbomotive, Jul 31 2004

Hate to break it to you but you'll probably lose out having to tote all of that extra equipment around. Better to stick to fewer sources and make them as compact and efficient as possible, the solar cells being an exception.

The turbines on the front and rear are going to draw more power out by wind drag than they'll add simply by the second law. It's like this: power is sapped from the car's systems to push it through the air. Adding turbines saps more power because you're requiring the air (and thus actually the car) to do more work while its flowing over the car. Some of that work potential is lost in the conversion process, and the rest goes to power the wheels. Net loss.
-- RayfordSteele, Jul 31 2004


Hey I've got an idea! Instead of storing all my files on my 60Gb hard drive, I'm going to swap it for a 10Gb hard drive, four 250Mb USB ZIP drives, a couple of 512Mb memory sticks, a CD-RW drive with a few CD-RW's and a tape back-up unit. That way I'll need lots more equipment, money and space to achieve the same thing.

Sorry Turbo, it ain't gonna fly.
-- wagster, Jul 31 2004


Then again, you could just stay at home and play videogames.
-- Ander, Jul 31 2004


I agree with RayfordSteele on the turbines, but I don't think the solar panels are an exception. Tacking them onto the car seems pretty pointless to me since good solar panels are very costly. Even then, good solar panels aren't all that efficient and you'd probably be better off spending that money on other compact sources of energy. Until some of the schools with solar car projects really pulls through with some incredible stuff, solar energy on consumer cars will just be a dream.
-- wan-fu, Aug 01 2004


//Plug your car into the mains every night to stock up for the next morning.//
Electric cars are not, per se, non-polluting; they simply move the pollution elsewhere. Charging the battery of an electric car from the mains means that, instead of polluting where the car is, you pollute where the power-station is.
-- angel, Aug 01 2004



random, halfbakery