Enhancement.

[GaslessInSeattle]

It is remarkably how many people hear about regenerative breaking and jump to perpetual motion. I don't think the temptation to believe in perpetual motion is all that odd, we do after all, have a fire ball that comes up over the horizon every day, blasting our planet with an amazing amount of "free" energy while the planet continues to rotate without apparently slowing down over one's lifetime, as it has for hundreds of millions of years... most folks get lost on the physics. Rather than make them feel stupid, I see their leap in logic as a sign of excitement about this "ground breaking" automotive technology and I try to simply elucidate some of the finer details without killing their sense of wonder... or making them want to fall asleep. the fact that my car runs for a mile on 2 cents worth of electricity is just about as outlandish to most folks as the idea of perpetual motion. compared to what most people are paying, it's practically free!

rohan00, don't let these party poopers get you down, it's perfectly normal to get swept up in miraculous ideations when you first become familiar with the Leaf! My guess is that Carlos Goshn had a few overly excited moments of his own that eventually led to betting the farm and $6 billion in R&D on the futuristic notion of a battery operated car that could take an 80% charge in 30 minutes. It's not perpetual motion, but it's pretty cool stuff and it will change the way you think about a lot of things! Welcome to MNL!!

 

[Rusty]

Build the vacuum chamber only on the front end, then the air pressure behind, being constantly renewed, will push the car forward into the vacuum.

I think you've just described the fundamentals principles of a warp drive...

 

[Nubo]

It is remarkably how many people hear about regenerative breaking and jump to perpetual motion....

Or the related misconception that the reason EV's get better mileage in City driving vs Highway is "because of all the regenerative braking". I even see journalists touting that one.

 

[richard]

Build the vacuum chamber only on the front end, then the air pressure behind, being constantly renewed, will push the car forward into the vacuum.

I think you've just described the fundamentals principles of a warp drive...

Cubert J. Farnsworth: I understand how the engines work now. It came to me in a dream. The engines don't move the ship at all. The ship stays where it is, and the engines move the universe around it.
Bender: That's a complete load!
Cubert J. Farnsworth: Nothing's a complete load! Not if you can imagine it. That's what being a scientist is all about.

http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_matter_engine

 

[TomT]

Actually, the rotation DOES slow down very slightly every day...

while the planet continues to rotate without apparently slowing down over one's lifetime, as it has for hundreds of millions of years...

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

thus the use of the word "apparently". I just think that while we rush to correct people who think EV's are magic, that we not loose sight of the fact that compared to ICE vehicles, they practically are. this wonder just needs to be directed not squashed or the EV market may succumb to the same inertia the universe is destined to but over a much shorter period of time.

Actually, the rotation DOES slow down very slightly every day...

while the planet continues to rotate without apparently slowing down over one's lifetime, as it has for hundreds of millions of years...

 

[woof]

Actually, the rotation DOES slow down very slightly every day...

So all we need to is pull in our arms a bit and that'll cause the earth to spin faster! It works for ice skaters after all. :lol:

 

[Rusty]

So all we need to is pull in our arms a bit and that'll cause the earth to spin faster!

That's not the axis about which the earth rotates.

We all need to duck :roll:

 

[Rokeby]

Clarke's Three Laws are three "laws" of prediction formulated by the British writer and
scientist, Arthur C. Clarke. They are:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is
almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them
into the impossible.

3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic...

At least for the simple folks and EVs.

Clark's 3 Laws