Quote:
Originally Posted by puddleglum
It's definitely not a new idea, but it's interesting to see someone is going to try to make it work again. I remember reading the article in Popular Mechanics or Mechanics Illustrated as well. They fitted a Pinto with a flywheel and drove something like 50miles at 50mph, if memory serves. I always wondered what undisclosed problems kept the concept from going forward. I think that using it in a hybrid makes good sense and the technology is so much better now.
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The big issue is friction. Lightweight flywheels need to work at 10s of thousands of RPM to be viable. The friction involved in such rotation in a moving vehicle is difficult to overcome with just bearings and lubricant alone. So you need vacuums and magnets, all the more complicated, all the more expensive.