It cannot be that difficult. The tech has to be there and cannot be that expensive to produce. Whats the hold up?

Would not the expenditure of energy always exceed the replenishment of energy?

Probably the laws of thermodynamics.

What do you mean by self-charging? They do recharge a little with regenerative braking, but where would the energy be coming form in a self-charging scenario?

Isn't that the primary difference in a hybrid versus a straight up EV?

I don't think anyone has ever come up with a fuel independent vehicle in world history.

This is way over the heads of most people. Part of my job is training people on EV vehicles. It takes a lot of power to charge an Ev battery. The friction from slowing down helps recharge the battery but is not nearly enough to make a real difference, as it is seconds rather than minutes at a time. The technology isn't there and it is not as simple as it seems. The real breakthrough will be solid state batteries, but the charging will remain. At the moment, hybrids are a compromise, but a good one. While I am not an electrical engineer, I have a good understanding of the technology and the reality is these systems are way more complicated than us normal people can comprehend. Solid state batteries will reduce charging times from 0 to 100 percent to 15 minutes and result in battery rage of 700 miles. The issue has been the solid state batteries don't last long enough to put in a vehicle and offer any kind of warranty. The expense of the batteries today is the minerals from the earth are needed and the batteries, which are getting better are still limited by the speed at which they can charge and the power they can accept during charging. The bigger the battery, them more charging power they can take and will allow them to charge faster. If they could produce what we all would like, they would have already done that.

quote:

Originally posted by NapoleonSolo:
they would have already done that.

Advances in tech. are always progressing. A wind generating system or some other from of creating electricity cannot be that far off to make a self charging vehicle in the not to distant future. Someone like elon will do it.

^Wind from where? The motion of the vehicle itself? You can never get back all the energy you expended to move in the first place.

Not even Elon can violate the L.O.T.

You're basically asking for a perpetual motion machine - which is impossible due to the laws of thermodynamics.

Power derived from air flow will lose a portion to friction.
The energy gained from any means must always be less than the output of the device providing it.

If the skin of the car was a large solar panel, it would provide some charging whenever the car was out in the sunshine. This would help to extend the range while driving and provide charging while sitting in a parking lot all day long.

Maybe it exists and is already in use?

With regenerative braking some are already "self-charging," but as noted above, physics shows they cannot create perpetual motion.

quote:

Originally posted by Mercury:
If the skin of the car was a large solar panel, it would provide some charging whenever the car was out in the sunshine. This would help to extend the range while driving and provide charging while sitting in a parking lot all day long.

Maybe it exists and is already in use?

Yes, something like this. There is no doubt some forward thinking technology that will accomplish this.

Dilithium Crystals...Just sayin'

Just do like the LeTourneau land train in the 50's.
Nuke generated electrical power.
Should be able to make one small enough to fit in the trunk.

Even if the entire body skin was solar panel, it would only capture a trickle of the energy needed to power a passenger vehicle. I don't know the exact calculation offhand, but I imagine it would take a panel the size of a building.

I've always wondered why they can't figure out how to generate power for recharge through the non-drive wheels.
If they had an alternator assy. incorporated in the free wheels then why wouldn't it work?

I am not saying solar is answer but what if solar tech. advances, which it will. You guys are stuck in the past and the current. As we move forward. I am betting if we cannot power a vehicle on it own entirely. Betting we will be able to do it with out giant, heavy batteries in the near future. Next twenty or so years surely.

Self-charging is coming along, but we can never have true self-charging as in perpetual motion. That would violate the first and second laws of thermodynamics.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
I am not saying solar is answer but what if solar tech. advances, which it will. You guys are stuck in the past and the current. As we move forward. I am betting if we cannot power a vehicle on it own entirely. Betting we will be able to do it with out giant, heavy batteries in the near future. Next twenty or so years surely.

The technology will increase energy efficiency, but the numbers just don't support pure energetic autonomy. Even assuming 100% efficient solar panels (i.e. all light falling on the panel is converted to usable stored energy), the size of the panel would still be much larger than the actual vehicle, even assuming ultra-lightweight batteries.

So what if it's something other than solar? Sure...someday. Maybe some day we'll develop an engine that harnesses dark energy (though we're not sure if it actually exists), or something like it. I think that's a way's off, however.

(BTW, current technology puts most solar panels in the 20s percent as far as efficiency.)

Physics: conservation of energy

quote:

Originally posted by john crusher:
I've always wondered why they can't figure out how to generate power for recharge through the non-drive wheels.
If they had an alternator assy. incorporated in the free wheels then why wouldn't it work?

That would produce drag which would still pull more energy out of the battery than it puts in.

quote:

Originally posted by Mercury:
If the skin of the car was a large solar panel, it would provide some charging whenever the car was out in the sunshine. This would help to extend the range while driving and provide charging while sitting in a parking lot all day long.

Maybe it exists and is already in use?

Fisker was the first to do that and the roof panels provided enough power to run the AC and that’s about it. Toyota and Hyundai offer it as an option to add range but even on the Prius it only adds 2-3 miles after sitting in the sun all day.