Would a wind turbine on an electric car use more energy than it would produce?
Question by carelvi2low: Would a wind turbine on an electric car use more energy than it would produce?
Me and a friend have been having an argument about whether or not this would work. we are both building electric cars, and I proposed this. He said it wouldn’t work, I say it would. Just trying to get to the bottom of it once and for all.
It wouldn’t be the sole power source, only a way to extend the range by charging the batteries.
Best answer:
Answer by Yakman
Based solely on the 2nd law of thermodynamics the car would have to put more energy in than the windmill would produce.
In practical terms the windmill will produce drag forces on the car that need to be overcome. Also the windmill will only convert part of the wind velocity to energy. What you end up with is a net loss.
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about 1 year ago
No, sadly, you can’t power an electric car with a wind turbine UNLESS (and YAKMAN did not consider this possibility) you live in a really windy place so that the turbine extracts wind speed energy from the air motion (in addition to the car motion). In theory you could do this, but in practice, drag and friction, and power “leakage” would “eat you alive”.
Because the wind speed is not necessarily being provided by the car, the “this violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics” is not a valid answer.
I like the creative thought, though!
-Fred