Wind Energy For Cars

Someday, wind energy for cars could be the best source for providing power to hydrogen-fueled cars. Several companies around the world are in the design stage for ways to capture high altitude winds to develop a renewable type of energy to power vehicles.

Some of these companies are not turning to your traditional wind farms such as the turbines found in Palm Springs, California and other places. They are finding other methods of generating power by utilizing the winds that blow at approximately 10,000 feet and higher.

A company out of Ramona, California, Sky WindPower Corporation, is busy working on a tethered rotorcraft that flies above the ground about 15,000 feet and uses the powerful wind currents at these high altitudes to generate electricity. These rotorcrafts can be very cost effective at a cost of about two cents for one-kilowatt hour of electricity. The harnessed energy can then be used to electrolyze water into the hydrogen to be used in fuel cells in hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Another company, Laddermill, is based at the Delft University in the Netherlands and is developing a different kind of high altitude source of energy. This company uses a system of kites that fly at a high altitude and are linked together with a cable that forms a loop. From the motion that the kites creat,e it turns the cable and this cable is connected to a generator by a drive wheel which generates electricity. Again, the electricity that is generated from this can be used to electrolyze water into hydrogen which is later used to fuel cars.

One company out of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada named Magenn Power Air Rotor System (MARS), has developed another way to accomplish this. They have made a system that is lighter than air, and is filled with helium. This tethered rotor system will rotate on it’s axis from the winds blowing on it at higher altitudes. This is a floating air rotor and it generates electricity, which is then sent down the tether to the equipment on the ground.

The need to develop alternative types of energy is getting greater every day. The best type would also be a renewable method for generating energy. As already shown, wind energy to power fuels cells used cars really isn’t all that far off.

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