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sentientplatypus comments on Crazy Ideas Thread - Less Wrong Discussion

22 Post author: Gunnar_Zarncke 07 July 2015 09:40PM

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Comment author: sentientplatypus 09 July 2015 10:52:20PM -2 points [-]

What if you put little electricity-generating windmills on top of an electric car. Could they produce enough electricity to help propel the car, or would the energy produced be counteracted by the drag added?

Comment author: Dagon 09 July 2015 11:51:26PM 2 points [-]

Pretty clearly the longitudinal wind would be more than canceled out by drag. You might be able to get some net power from any cross-wind that is present. But for that, you're better off with fixed windmills used to charge your battery.

Comment author: Elo 12 July 2015 12:54:28AM 1 point [-]

I saw a paper that suggested that for big non-aerodynamic trucks you could put a big fan on their back and power it with the fuel and save something like 20% on fuel.

Comment author: Elo 12 July 2015 12:53:28AM 1 point [-]

look into perpetual motion machines and their disproof.