 |
|
EV WORLD EXCLUSIVE ARTICLE |
A European Cybercar, part of a 3 year-long, 10 million Euros project designed to better understand how to integrate self-guided, electric commuter vehicles into European cities. Eventually the goal is to pave the way to DualMode, private electric-drive cars. |
How to give electric-drive vehicles the range they need to succeed; put them on high-speed guideways
Open Access Article Originally Published: March 14, 2005
EV World readers don't need to be reminded of the fact that our three basic transportation problems: traffic congestion, fuel depletion, and global warming, all continue to get worse rather than better. The present systems, and the traditional solutions, are not working.
Many of the articles in EV World address promising advanced solutions to the fuel-depletion and the global-warming parts of our three-headed monster, but they generally fail to address the big one that costs millions of dollars and irritates millions of drivers daily, traffic congestion.
I support the development and use of Electric Vehicles wholeheartedly, and believe as most of you do that there will be an "Electric Vehicle Revolution;" but I argue that very few of the EV proponents and developers are looking and thinking broadly enough.
The old dictum, "Don't try to solve vast problems with half-vast solutions" partly fits the situation. Electric Vehicle development is certainly not half-assed, but it commonly addresses only two parts of our vast integrated set of transportation crises. DUALMODE TRANSPORTATION addresses and will largely solve all three. And it will allow us to use private cars—and accept still more of them as the population grows.
It will work this way.
We will drive our "Dualmode Electric Cars" on the streets for short distances in the normal manner; but on trips of more than several miles our cars will enter a high-speed NATIONAL GUIDEWAY SYSTEM. There we won't be doing the driving, it will all be automatic. Good, because human drivers now cause most of the accidents. Computerized systems see better, anticipate better, remember better, make fewer mistakes, respond faster, are more reliable, and don't drive while under the influence.
The system will do the navigating and everything else that needs doing. We will tell the system computer where we want to exit the guideways (that exit may be five miles away or across the country). At our exit ramp we will be delivered back to the streets and again assume control of our car for the short distance to our final destination.
In the Guideway Mode the cars will be using the AC power grid. In the manually driven Street Mode, batteries, fuel cells, or some other form of portable energy will power the cars.
As we know, batteries and electric motors can't come close to competing with gasoline and internal-combustion engines in energy-to-weight ratio, which boils down to their generally inadequate range and performance for highway use. Very fortunately that won't be a problem with dualmode because the battery or other onboard energy will be used only on the streets for short distances and relatively low speeds. And the batteries can even be recharged while the cars are on the guideways.
GO TO NEXT PAGE >>
|
| Times Article Viewed: 9686 |
|
|
|
Reader Comments
A valid email address and confirmation is required before your comment can be posted. Comments not confirmed within
24 hours are automatically deleted.
33 comments so far...
31-Jul-2007
57372
| |
July 31,2007
Note: Should you not be able to access my web page above due too coincidental or deliberate
interference by a pop-up such as 'vBuddy' and the like which may be deleted by moving the image which is larger than the screen by 130%.
Simply click on the blue bar at the top and pull it down and over to the left in order to click on its 'x'at top right of its image. In order to avoid repetition in possible other continuing pages just knock out 'trillions' in the address and replace it with 'globalsys' or from now on use this new address instead.
--
http://globalsys.topcities.com/dualmodemaglev.html -- also -- http://globalsys.topcities.com/electriCar.html
Thank you. Sincerely Jack Marchand The original and only inventor of Dual Mode Maglev back in the 1960s Don't let the CROOKS
feed you B.S. and tell you otherwise. Its all in these web pages
Posted by: jack marchand
|
|
07-Nov-2008
64800
| |
I think this is really gonna do well as far as the fuel efficiency problem and gas mileage devices is concerned..I'm excited about the system!!
Posted by: kurt daniel
|
|
29-Jun-2006
26903
| |
ATT'N:EV world June 28, 2006
Gentlemen:
With the present EVs there is too much anxiety for the owner to feel free to travel long distances.
The alternative is one minute battery swap stations and they also interface with my high speed maglev
system presented to US DOT which was selected "top gun" by a TRW study for the DOT back in the 1960s'.
A few years ago transportation interests finally saw a new direction from my web site and are now trying
to claim it as theirs.--As is,the plug-in EV has
its limitations. So the EV in the future will be part of a bigger infrastructure to suit everyone's advantage.
GM is now even considering my seperation of the passenger capsule from its bottom carrier. Which they call
the AUTOnomy skateboard. (the motorized wheels, support frame, including the swap batteries).
My upper capsule will also withstand a vacuum negative pressure while traveling at very high speeds exceeding the Concorde.
It's a "whole new ball game". And ...no.! EVs are not dead --the're coming. -OIL..Let 'em shove it..!!
Check this web site-- http://trillions.topcities.com/dualmodemaglev.html
also visit these pages
http://trillions.topcities.com/electriCar.html
and tell the world..A new way is imminent.Jack Marchand
Posted by: jack marchand
|
|
13-Feb-2006
12830
| |
The article is good, but I think we have to do more than talk to each other. Are there any news media contacts? NASA's work on electronic commutation and magnetic bearings in the 1960's appllies directly and should form the basis for magnetic levitation and propulsion in the U. S.
Is anyone aware that Dr.Robert Goddard wrote a paper on Magnetically levitated trains in 1905?
A brushless dc motor was invented at Goddard in the 60s which is ideal for Mag,Bearings & Lev
The guideway is totally passive iron and cheap!
Posted by: philip studer
|
|
15-Mar-2005
6559
| |
Andy, your ideas are innovative but thousands
of miles of exposed, electrified conductors
are certain to develop problems when there is
rain or snow not to mention the constant problem
of debris and animal life (including humans)
coming in contact and shorting out circuits.
Telephone and power and e-rail lines are
suspended from above for a good reason. The only
other alternative is buried power lines which
are not much use for EVs."
Posted by: John Boyd
|
|
15-Mar-2005
6561
| |
Cheapest design amenable to incremental deployment would win. Exposed conductor problem is easily solved a number of ways. I like roadway separated from pedestrians and a pickup boom deployed from the rear bumper to a 'side of road' catenary above man-height. Development path: no-plug hybrid, plug-in hybrid, rolling recharge (dual-mode) hybrid. Trucking would see the benefit most. Could you do an easy retrofit hubmotor system for 18-wheelers and electrify a section of a heavily travelled route to demo fuel savings? Aside from patent overruns there could be a business here."
Posted by: Ron Fischer
|
|
15-Mar-2005
6563
| |
I agree with Ron. If we can convert the left lane of interstates so that equipped cars & trucks can make use of an overhead or to-the-side wire, then we can use the existing infrastructure. This would only be used on freeways and tollways, not sidestreets, so pedestrian traffic would not be a real concern.
I think most people would welcome a chance to not have to pay attention while doing mid to long-distance driving, but we have to give people the option of pulling off or taking over at any point.
Using train tracks is too expensive and limited in destinations, converting existing roadways is the only real option.
I don't know if Iceland is looking at this, but since they want to be petroleum-free as soon as possible (and has the geothermal energy to do it), and an enclosed environment, this might be a good proving grounds for the concept.
Rob"
Posted by: Rob Neff
|
|
15-Mar-2005
6564
| |
I am not proposing the use of current rail tracks
to conduct electric current. They would be used
merely as guides as they are now used for trains.
Amtrak has never made money and Congress is
now debating whether to continue funding.
I am proposing replacing the trains with four
to six passenger electric vehicles that a traveler
could rent for a trip between cities. The rental
fee would probably be no more than a bus ticket and possibly far less.
It could be a pleasant and safe ride because minimal driving
would be necessary and more site seeing would be
done. A charged vehicle would always be ready
at the station."
Posted by: John Boyd
|
|
15-Mar-2005
6570
| |
Decades ago, I read about an invention to convey electricity to moving vehicles via metal plates embedded in the roadway, such that the system would sense each vehicle's position and energize only those plates that were in contact with the vehicles' pickup
contacts. The inventor claimed that it would work under wet or snowy conditions.
I have my doubts. Can 4 kW of power be switched that fast?"
Posted by: Joshua Levin
|
|
15-Mar-2005
6576
| |
The "contact" approach to transfering electrical
energy would, it seems to me, be plagued by
mechanical and corrosion problems in this
extensive application. What about using masers
( microwave version of lasers) to transmit the
electrical energy to moving EVs."
Posted by: John Boyd
|
|
16-Mar-2005
6590
| |
Question for John Boyd:
Would vehicles' metal skins and frames "short circuit" the microwaves from the maser?
-- "Josh
Levin
"
Posted by: Joshua Levin
|
|
16-Mar-2005
6595
| |
AC Induction nonconact is the way to go. No Live rails needed. Half of a transformer coil bareied beneath the surface skin with a hover plate pick up lowered from the bottom of the car. This is just an electric moter unrolled and streached out in a liner strip. I read that if every telephone pole and transmission tower Had a reasonable solar pannel array it would produce more power than is produced total by conventonal means. Think of all the surface area tied up in the interstate highway system. if some small fraction of that area was solar pannels , say the meadian devider, I think our power troubles would be over. Good time to do both together and get in the 22 Century."
Posted by: Lin Higley
|
|
17-Mar-2005
6604
| |
Readers interested in my colleague Reynolds' prediction may be interested in viewing my website, www.pugetpullway.com, which describes a system using grid power for energy, a guideway to supply the power and for other uses, a path selector mechanism and brakes adequate to the need. The system, four years in development, is in the patenting process. It includes a throughput multiplier that obviates widening and heavy duty brakes that can stop a car a lot quicker than service brakes mounted on wheels. This is a huge project; if you are qualified you can help, providing you are not affiliated with competing systems. "
Posted by: john bruns
|
|
17-Mar-2005
6610
| |
AC Induction coils must be very close together to operate efficiently. In the EV-1 paddle the inefficiency was noticable as heat, especially when paddles were misaligned. This happened frequently for a large paddle car using small paddle plus adapter. It is more expensive to maintain small coil distance precisely at high vehicle speeds than it is to set catenary pickups. Coils are heavy. Train-style catenary pickups are known technology. Combine these with controller onboard truck plus hub motors to minimize installation cost. The big assumption is an existing 'auto-steering' capability."
Posted by: Ron Fischer
|
|
17-Mar-2005
6611
| |
Josh: I assume metal would simply reflect
microwaves but the idea would be to implant
a maser every 1000 feet or so, in the center
of the street. The EV would have
a series of inline microwave detectors mounted
under the chasis and they would detect the radiation
each time the car passed over the maser. I used
the 1000 foot figure as a guess. The real distance
would be determined by how much power the maser
could transmit and the speed of the car. The cars
might need some type of guidance to prevent them
from diverging from the maser line or the driver
could be alerted if he was going off path.
This could be tried, on a minature scale, using
inexpensive laser diodes, photovoltaic cells
and model cars equipped with rechargeable batteries. The cars would have to be constrained
to move in a circular path to see if the charge
could be maintained. Interesting experiment!"
Posted by: John Boyd
|
|
17-Mar-2005
6612
| |
Ron and Lin: A maglev train system uses superconducting
magnets in the train and a series of electromagnets mounted in the base of the support
structure."
Posted by: John Boyd
|
|
18-Mar-2005
6622
| |
KIS: Keap It Simpel: http://www.ruf.dk
RUF uses A shaped metal trackes, cheep and simpel."
Posted by: michael Eric Menk
|
|
18-Mar-2005
6630
| |
How about a slot car type connection to the A/C mains in the street or an overhead type of electric bus connection?"
Posted by: Mark Peterson
|
|
10-Jun-2006
24742
| |
gentlemen;
Here is more info presented over two decades ago for EVs and battery swap stations also
many patents are listed in that page.
http://www.geocities.com/gblsys/index3.html
Nobody listens to me. STANDARDS are needed
Also try ,
--http://trillions.topcities.com--
It refers to future transportation that will change our way of living.
It originated in the early sixties with a dual mode maglev and now some are trying for a grab.--
No,it must be a global undertaking where all can participate.
all the best ----Jack Marchand
Posted by: Jack Marchand
|
|
10-Jun-2006
24743
| |
gentlemen;
Here is more info presented over two decades ago for EVs and battery swap stations also
many patents are listed in that page.
http://www.geocities.com/gblsys/index3.html
Nobody listens to me. STANDARDS are needed
Also try ,
--http://trillions.topcities.com--
It refers to future transportation that will change our way of living.
It originated in the early sixties with a dual mode maglev and now some are trying for a grab.--
No,it must be a global undertaking where all can participate.
all the best ----Jack Marchand
Posted by: Jack Marchand
|
|
21-Mar-2005
6690
| |
Are we forgetting about the types of radiation that we will be subjecting ourselves to if we WERE to use induction coils? Not to mention the effect on electronics on close proximity. I think the rail system that Menk introduced is the best. Being vertically isolated, there's no significant chance of pedestrian interaction, like a subway, and dc rails ARE a proven technology. Now all we need to do is find stretches of commuter highway to implement such an idea."
Posted by: Micah Erickson
|
|
21-Mar-2005
6691
| |
Excellent concept, what are the methods of providing sustainable grid power you envision."
Posted by: Bill Ferris
|
|
21-Mar-2005
6701
| |
Get with the future! Use Super Bluetooth!"
Posted by: John Boyd
|
|
30-Mar-2005
6912
| |
Francis Reynolds certainly has tremendous foresight. His article clearly demonstrates that some form of dualmode transportation is the best solution to our growing transportation problems.
Equally impressive to Mr. Reynolds' ability to see the "longview", is his ability to see the "wideview". He realizes that the biggest problem is sociological (i.e. how do we get the rest of the world to see that dualmode is the solution), and not technological (i.e. which design or technology should be used).
Those of us who believe that some form of dualmode transportation is the best solution should respond to Francis Reynolds' call to action. Letters-to-the-editor are good. I myself have done that. I have even testified before our City Council. Being an unknown and not even an engineer, however, I was not very effective.
I believe that an organized campaign, perhaps with a celebrity spokesperson, is needed to first, get the public's attention, and then, take their interest in a dualmode system to the tipping point.
Anyone interested? Any other ideas?
"
Posted by: Randy Leong
|
|
05-Apr-2005
7026
| |
Are you talking about electro-magnets in the vehicles and tracts? If yes, that would be the most energy efficient way to maximize the system with minimal use of electricity."
Posted by: Madeleine Saenz
|
|
14-Mar-2005
6540
| |
Intriguing concept but the thought of traveling
at 200 mph with a 1 foot separation, scares me
somewhat. Here is another approach. Why not
abolish Amtrak and use the country's existing
rail lines to act as conduits for single mode electric vehilcles that would carry four to six passengers. Most
of the infrastructure already exists. Just
remove the trains and replace them with EVs
that have axles and wheels designed to ride on the
existing rails."
Posted by: John Boyd
|
|
14-Mar-2005
6534
| |
Cool!
I thought Audi's "Adaptive Cruise Control" would function as a stepping stone toward closer following distances at higher speeds, but apparently not enough buyers are willing to pay the $2100 premium. I first heard about it a few years ago (I want to say 1999 or 2000), but it doesn't seem to have caught on. With smart roads (or maglev guideways), the carbuyer's cost gets spread out over the life of the vehicle (through usage fees) rather than coming as a huge initial investment."
Posted by: Steve Erlsten
|
|
14-Mar-2005
6539
| |
Regular EV Word readers will be familiar with my LeviCar concept. To
be fair, the Dualmode concept has been around longer than LeviCar,
but the two can be quite compatible.
In the LeviCar concept, an automobile consists of a body and a
separable chassis, something like GM's AUTOnomy/Hy-Wire/Sequel
effort, but sufficiently different to avoid patent infringement.
The body can be removed from its road chassis and be placed
on a different pallet, a "MagLev bogie", to run on a
Magnetic-Levitation rail at 300 mph. The car body can also
be placed on a boat hull or even an airframe. In the far
future, it can be wrapped in a cocoon and travel
at 3000 mph in an evacuated tube.
There are a few caveats to conventional Dualmode, and I would
like to show how each can be addressed by LeviCar:
Mechanical Breakdown: Even
though the Dualmode Guideway is fully automated to eliminate human error, there still is the possibility
of a mechanical breakdown, which can wreak havoc and cost lives.
If the road chassis are owned by leasing companies that
take responsibility for their maintenance, then there is far
less likelihood of mechanical breakdown.
Weight: For truly high
speeds (275 mph or more), you do not want to have to carry
around the wheels, frame, and fuel of the road chassis, which
may constitute half to two-thirds of the vehicle gross weight.
For LeviCars in MagLev mode, the road chassis is simply
absent, replaced by a Maglev "Bogie".
Adaptability: The author
(Dr. Reynolds) states "Just as any car can now run on
any highway in the world, any dualmode car must be able to run
on any dualmode guideway in the world." This
implies worldwide universal Dualmode controls. If there
are different flavors of Automated Guideways
in different corners of the world, then the LeviCar road chassis
can be replaced with a compatible one when one travels
from one area to another. (For the same reason, LeviCars can adapt to
different fuels in different regions.)
In sum, the LeviCar concept is an extension of Dualmode, not
a competitor. Like Dualmode, it faces political
obstacles. If Preston Tucker
had so many problems with his innovative car over half a
century ago, think of how the Dualmode and LeviCar concepts
will be received by the vested interests!
-- "Josh
Levin"
Posted by: Joshua Levin
|
|
14-Mar-2005
6541
| |
John Boyd (and others) might be interested in a Japanese effort to develop a vehicle that can run on both rails and the roadway system. Some info about it is available at: http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/japanese_dualmode.htm Another project of this type is underway in the U.K. - called BladeRunner. It is described at: http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/bladerunner1.htm"
Posted by: Jerry Schneider
|
|
15-Mar-2005
6547
| |
Sounds like a full scale Scalextrics to me :O)
http://www.scalextric.co.uk/pages/home.aspx
Two metal strips down the road run the EV on the highway, then recharge your batteries before you leave the off ramp. Neat!"
Posted by: Barry Turner
|
|
15-Mar-2005
6548
| |
'Add, but do not detract from the freedoms we are accustomed to' -The primary issue involved with "scalextricx" is the realities of implementation. 1) there's the problem of maintaining metal strips in the roadway that won't be affected by rain, dirt, ect. and that won't cause a health threat to pedestrians who might happen to cross the path, resulting in the infamous third rail phenomenon. 2) transmission losses and selective activation of electro-coupled power transmission make implementation another issue. 2a) the rails could just be replaced by sub-surface coils, but let's not forget that we would essentially be riding an electromagnetic wave. For those of us that value our body's electrochemical harmony, might not be so comfortable electro-surfing to work. This is also not considering the large transmission losses associated with driving and inductive (vs. conductive) system that has a large coefficient of losses associated with them, and at that degree of inefficiency, other current options of transportation are more preferable. 2b) To reduce losses involved with inductive power coupling, selective activation of roadways based on your position could be used. However, this would require use of a gps or other location systems, increasing 'big brother's involvement in our daily lives.
It's been my conviction for some time now that we americans love our vehicles and the freedom they give us (dispite the restriction that we can only choose the lane we travel in and not to travel as the crow flies) Never-the-less, I think the best solution will be one that adds and does not detract from this freedom we have come accustomed to. As for what exactly that would be, I'd have to guess that hybrids (electric power adders and full ev mode option) would be the best recieved by the average american."
Posted by: Micah Erickson
|
|
15-Mar-2005
6555
| |
To get the public used to an idea such as dualmode Why can't we just make the middle lane of a hwy such a
"electric recharge" lane? (sort of like slot cars without the slot) This allows entry and exit anywhere along the way. If you used spring loaded comutators with wheels, (such as a slot car, only with wheels to conduct better at lower voltges) you could lower the voltages on the roadway decreasing the danger of the rails. (Isn't a similar concept used for electric trolleys except it is overhead) This idea i think will work for recharging plug in hybrids while they drive, also electric cars. (only if we all have the same voltage standard.) Please excuse the not fully baked ideas as i have only an AAS in Electronics engineering. Also it could be designed with rails that are flush with the roadway and not shiny but rough, so as to avoid causing any car that brakes while a tire is in contact with the rail to slip on the roadway surface during braking (a car with ABS may not be so affected). The hybrid or electric car could have an autopilot the keeps the car centered over the rails for maximum charging (disengages when you tug on the steering wheel or tap the brakes) This system could be powered by PV panels and large wind machines along the highway in rural areas for faster charging. Who ever stops their car in the middle lane to get out anyway? This only happens in case of a traffic jam. In this case, your charging system in the car could warn you not to get out of the car because you are on an electrified highway until the optical sensors in that part of the HWY sense a non-moving vehicle on the roadway. (let us say for example this stretch of roadway is 500 feet long and has it's own solar panel array and supercapacitor bank, including wind generator for cloudy but windy days) In this case the sensor array would disconnect the power to the rails until it was sure there were no stopped vehicles on the roadway. If it is the middle of the night of some other non-traffic day and an animal or person strays into the electrified roadway, the median would have infrared sensors to sense the heat from it's body and sound an alarm to cause it to flee, avoiding harm. If all major highways were like this, a car such as the Tzero with 300 mile range between charges could travel almost anywhere in the USA. Battery electric vehicles, especially ones with supercapacitors are much less dangerous than fossil fuel vehicles when subjected to crash testing. They cannot leak toxic flammable liquids that threaten to ignite. They can release huge amounts of current when their leads are shorted, and this is why much care must be taken when engineering them into any system. This is also what makes them perfect for high current buffering between a battery bank and the electric motor/regenerative braking system. Capacitors are extremely reliable when properly engineered and installed into any system. When was the last time you had a capacitor failure in your computer, stereo system, walkman, or cd player? They do fail, but less frequently than connectors and integerated circuits. In my experience. Please correct me if i am in error."
Posted by: Andy Schaeffer
|
|
01-Aug-2007
57410
| |
July 31,2007
Note: Should you not be able to access my web page above due too coincidental or deliberate
interference by a pop-up such as 'vBuddy' and the like which may be deleted by moving the image which is larger than the screen by 130%.
Simply click on the blue bar at the top and pull it down and over to the left in order to click on its 'x'at top right of its image. In order to avoid repetition in possible other continuing pages just knock out 'trillions' in the address and replace it with 'globalsys' or from now on use this new address instead.
--
http://globalsys.topcities.com/dualmodemaglev.html -- also -- http://globalsys.topcities.com/electriCar.html
Thank you. Sincerely Jack Marchand.
-------------------------------
The original and only inventor of Dual Mode Maglev presented to the U.S.DOT back in the 1960s Don't let the CROOKS
feed you B.S. and tell you otherwise. Its all in these web pages.
Posted by: jack marchand
|
|
|
|
|
