Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The Powerwagon is a mobile power source that can power up different kinds of electrical appliances, and it recharges when you hook it up to the back of your car.
sounds like it will use more energy than it will waste....
Did you mean it would
Quote:
sounds like it will use more energy than it will create
If that's what you meant then definitely if it's using the pulling action of the car solely as its source of charging because you have the resistance of the wheels on the road and the resistance of the wind both of which require energy to counteract. Providing direct power to the generator from the cars engine while its sitting at a stand still would be more efficient.
AFAIK you can't create energy through resistance without losing more than your creating. e.g if you put a giant wind mill on top of your car and drove it around it would require more energy to power the car than what the windmill would produce.
Something like that would only work if it was using wasted energy braking action and/or if you were going down a hill. Then the question becomes is it making enough to counteract the energy loss from towing it around when you're not doing either of those things.
The car manufacturer's that are working along those lines have the right idea but the next thing is now you have a whole lot more things on your car taht is going to require maintenance and replacement.
You're absolutely right, TheCoalMan. The ONLY way this generator can be efficient is if it is being charged by energy that otherwise would have been wasted.
In addition to that, don't we have to figure the purchase price of the unit in somewhere? I'm guessing you'd have to lay out $2,00-$3,000 for that generator. And considering that my household bill for electricity is only about $70 per month, it'd take a L O N G time to get that unit "into the black."
If you are looking for environmentally friendly reasonably priced generators check out the variants powered by "old Tech" Lister Diesels running on straight waste vegie oil. they are simple, cheap and get the job done. The only problem is they are big and very heavy. OK, they smoke like a old tech diesel if operated at max power. If run at 2/3 power they are reasonably clean.
Dragging a gbattery behind a car to recharge is really the hard way to "recover" energy. In fact it is less efficient than jacking up one wheel and using it to drive the generator.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
