The Car Powered by Photosynthesis

[sliem]

Except horses poop and you cant park it overnight in the garage.

 

[FUtomNOreg]

Nature beat them to it....it's called a horse.

 

[boogalooelectric]

The reason it wont become anything is because the power companies will not let it. If it is real and actually works they (PG&E, Edison, Duke Energy or any of the others take your pick) will just buy it and bury it or the oil companies will. Anything innovative that reduces energy use and screws with their profit margins will get shut down and buried alive.

They will do everything to maintain control of the power grids, just look at Proposition 16 on the California ballot.

 

[Silmarunya]

A very nice concept, but utterly pointless.

- Why convert sunlight into chemical energy and then into electricity instead of doing so directly via photovoltaic panels? After all, at every energy conversion a part of the energy is wasted in the form of heat.

- Photosynthesis doesn't exactly create a huge amount of energy. In order to power a car AND let the plants feed themselves, you'd need a mobile rainforest.

- Plants breathe and evaporate water by doing so. In a glass car, things would get hot and humid, like in a rainforest.

- Here in Belgium, every inch of road is lit at night, so it would work here. But in most parts of the world, driving at night would be impossible without sufficient battery capacity.

- Keeping the soil full of nutrients and water sure is a lot of work...

 

[Pro Llama]

The problem is anyone can put an idea like this out there, but if you have no idea of the concepts behind it it is useless. If I said hey I can make a black hole in a beaker would you believe me or ask how? It is just science fiction unless you can provide some idea of how it can be done.

 

[CoryInJapan]

[citation][nom]Miharu[/nom]It's just a concept.Cool design, great idea but.. it's too much futuristic for build a prototype.No wheels on the front just some kind of rotation motor.I prefer the "back to the future's" delorean.[/citation]
IDK why u got a thumbs down.That care/movie will always have a special place in my heart.Great childhood memorys.

 

[WheelsOfConfusion]

Hey look, another fantastical "concept" product that's never going to be made! Thanks for covering the world of fiction, Tom's!

 

[zmbcat]

Either synthetic flowers or synthetic photosynthesis is needed to pull it off, but thats far away...and besides - its using solar energy, so solar panels should be 10x simpler/more efficient to pull off? Meh...

 

[husker]

I think harnessing the energy of the sneezes produced by a passenger with hay-fever would likely produce more power.

 

[Gin Fushicho]

While it would be cool, I bet even if was implemented it'd be too slow for anyone other than farmers to use.

 

[lamorpa]

Flower Power!

 

[vider]

The guy is showing his talent, it's his artistic web folio. Check his website.

 

[thatreallyotherguy]

so you're saying I have to weed my car? .... this is a ploy by my wife isn't it...

 

[warezme]

replace the whole plant thing with a mini diesel turbine and you have something that might work.

 

[stingstang]

There are a lot of haters on this site 'thumbs down'ing these comments. Just because you disagree with someone isn't a reason to /dislike their comment and write a nasty one yourself. (I've taken to liberty of neutralizing most negative comments)
Quite hating. That's what's killing this world.

 

[ravewulf]

Why not just use solar power directly? It's bound to be hugely more effecient.

 

[grieve]

you would cook in the greenhouse car.

Gas = $0
sunscreen = $10
heatstroke = priceless!

 

[kingssman]

sweet. now i can sit in a cabbage patch on my way to work

 

[zachary k]

i have a terrible green thumb. despite the fact that the renewable resource is built into the car, i will still run out of fuel.

 

[Pyroflea]

What the hell. People need to think about the big picture before claiming they have a possible replacement for petroleum. *Sigh*

 

[Stryter]

Is it 1953?

 

[pswenne]

[citation][nom]vertigo_2000[/nom]Someone wasted their time and energy putting this together.These concept things need to stop already. At least conceptualize something that may happen within your lifetime or something that uses possible tech.I'm gonna conceptualize a house that will grow from a seed. You'll be able to grow your own house! Live in it as a 1 bedroom until it grows a 2nd bedroom. Hold off on the 2nd child until the 3rd room grows.[/citation]

you mean something like this?
http://www.archinode.com/bienal.html

 

[Cache]

Without clear direction how power is derived from this concept, how the energy is routed and distributed, and how much is actually generated for work to be performed, he might as well have designed a car that runs on the bitter hatred of internet trolls. At least that would be an energy source that actually grows with the human population.

 

[darthvidor]

Going from Point A to B is now as slow as watching the grass grow.

 

[Guest]

So I guy draws some pictures of a car that basically runs on magic and its worth a story?