Can we use wind to power a Car?

Question

I was just thinking the craziest thoughts... imagine instead of freeways giant surface Tunnels and in the tunnels,

high current wind rushing through them powered by a Giant powerful fan.

Now imagine Cars with Sails!.... not your regular run of the mill ocean sails but like a Metal sail maybe? anyways the sail is connected to the roof and frame of the car and controlled by the steering wheel, so you could actually maneuver and of course Drive.

anyways.. I know that the Fan its self would also have to be powered some way but this would over all will cut our dependency on Gas by 75% ..(in theory)...

maybe we could also have a way for the car to store electricity while driving, maybe have a fan in front of the sail , that would spin at enormous speeds and would store electricity in batteries? ...

and with that you could use it to get around in your city?... hmm or also have a small 2 gallon gas tank or some other kind of alternative fuel of your choice in case of emergencies?

anyways tell me what you think of my idea I know it sounds A BIT CRAZY.. but it just kind of came to my mind.. I haven't heard of such a thing, anywhere how about you?

Answer 1

i thought, wind powered cars is a great idea, but i was thinking more on the lines of having an electric car that can recharge through turbines on the outside of the car, they only have to be little and many really, they can be on the roof and sides, this can produce enough electricity to recharge the car. this is something that i have been talking about with my son. i am no engineer, but  i am sure someone that knows what they are doing can work something out.

Answer 2

I suppose that you could power it by having children blow on the fan...

Millions i guess...

Answer 3

It's possible to use that if your car is light as a feather lol, and the energy need to used to the wind turbines it's inefficient, and putting it to a car will create a lots of drag where's the freedom to speed ?

Answer 4

In theory, that would work. A few problems like giant tunnels and fans would keep it from working. There is a race of wind powerd sail cars. The closest we will get to wind powered cars would be electric cars powered by electricity from wind generators.

Answer 5

not in the way your thinking. denmark is in talks with a california based company to build a fleet of electric cars that would be powered by electricity generated by windmills. every 90 miles you would have to recharge your care into a station set up in the country. A similar project is already being built in Isreal and talks are in progress with other european countries to extent the project.

Answer 6

I believe that a Tonka truck _is_ a toy.  

How about simply taking the bus?  An electric bus, powered by overhead trolley wires, that runs down your street. Inside is free wireless Internet so you can check e-mail while you ride.  And there's a rest room, and a coffee machine as well.  All of the technology for these is a hundred years old; such buses are in use in the US and Europe.

Answer 7

retro idea dude

but there are several flaws

like how would the city get the power to power the wind tunnels and how would the tunnals propel wind when theres a traffic jam, how would the wind blow at the cars. what if you needed to exit the tunnel to go to work/school??

if you found out a way to fix the faws then man, you'd be awesome!!!

-Peace out

Answer 8

Indirectly, sure.  You can't have a turbine on a car because it will create too much drag and make the car inefficient.  You can certainly use wind power to charge up the batteries of an electric car though.

Answer 9

The problem is that it will ruin the design of cars. so they better find a way to incorporate such in a way that the sails, mills or whatever will look seemless and will complement the design. A very good idea of yours.

Maybe if companies can make a design to redirect all the wind blowing to the car into a series of fans inside the hood. Much like what they do to cool the engines by using air/wind from outside when you're on the go. But my best guess is that they have to make it a gas/wind or electric/wind hybrid during the early days of such cars until they perfect the technique of making wind as the primary source of fuel/energy for cars.