Perpetual Motion Delorean?

An anonymous reader writes "An electric-powered Delorean that can supposedly go "hundreds of miles" at speeds over 100MPH without stopping to recharge will be tested today beginning at 8am at the Nashville Superspeedway. They claim the vehicle uses 12 standard car batteries, so the invention appears to relate to recharging the batteries." I found a website offering current updates on the demonstration of this perpetual motion device: it appears they've suffered mechanical difficulties and cancelled the test.

Does it use the Casimir Effect?

[selectspec]

The first posts today are more exciting that this story.

What is this? Hoax? No Details?

[jsimon12]

Seems to be nothing other then an electrically powered Delorean? People have been converting gas powered vehicles to Electric for years. If this is some sort of perpetual motion machine is doesn't say how it works on the site, in any detail. So that would lead me to belive it is a hoax.

Slashdot's new tagline

[nizo]

"Hoaxes for nerds". Or is it "Hoaxes that matter"? Remember, don't let reality interfere with a good news story.

In Other News... SOMETHING SMELLS

[Ranma]

''I don't think the oil or car companies understand what a significant breakthrough this is,'' Meland said...
If Tilley succeeds, it ''completely changes our whole picture on energy, how to use this energy to free the planet from fossil fuel.''


I bet you anything that we don't hear another peep about this (except maybe a repeat) again.

Re:What is this? Hoax? No Details?

[JabberWokky]

If this is some sort of perpetual motion machine is doesn't say how it works on the site, in any detail.

That's because the only person who mentioned perpetual motion was the Slashdot Editor. Michael put it in the title of the Slashdot story - neither the article nor the site says *anything* about perpetual motion. The stats related in the article are:

'hundreds of miles without recharging'' and can reach speeds of more than 100 miles per hour.

Which is scientifically plausable, if exteremely unlikely. It may well be a hoax, but they seem to be putting their money where their mouth is. We'll see when the thing is finished being demonstrated. It certainly would be a breakthrough, and while very rare, they do happen at times.

If it were a perpetual motion device, I wouldn't even give it the benefit of the doubt. As it is, I just give it doubt. :)

--
Evan (no references, but I think the car's stats might be SciFi)

Re:This should be under a better heading...

[Hans Lehmann]

Tesla did some interesting work, but he never "sucked power out of the environment" without spending far more energy than he ever got back. The reason we Nerds poo-poo these stories is simply because they defy the laws of thermodynamics. This inventor shows all the usual symptoms of a perpetual-energy kook:

"The Government/Big Oil/Big Auto knows that this really works, but they're trying to suppress it."

They create mumbo-jumbo terms like "electromagnetic vacuum", that sound plausible to the average sucker investor that never bothered to take a high-school physics class, but are nothing but a bunch of crap.

They're constantly stalling, while promising that their invention will be ready after "just a few more tweaks."

When they are asked to demonstrate it under controlled conditions, they'll always come up with a story about "bad vibes from all these skeptics", or in this case "we've just got some bearing problems."

Anyone that invests in this company deserves to lose every penny they own.

Should've used a dynamometer...

[TheRealStyro]

Lets see - they plan to test drive a production car on a race track designed for much high performance vehicles... Real smart...

Should have just put the thing up on a dynamometer type rack and hooked up some display for showing 1) the car, 2) speed and 3) mileage on a web-cam dohickey. Have some experts (advocates & opposition) to witness and document.

Re:This should be under a better heading...

[theycallmeB]

As you say, read the site, not the spin:

There is a new car on the road today. A car built with technology that defies the concept of fossil fuel powered cars, and can run coast to coast without ever relying on the battery being charged from an outside source.

He is certainly selling it as a closed system, with no requirements that it be refueled or recharged (at least not for very, very long distances), so unless he really does have a 'Mr. Fusion' in there or has made a breakthrough in electro-chemical energy storage (ie. batteries), this is a perpetual-motion machine of the first kind (a PMM1, as my thermo book says) because he claims to be able to do a lot of work (drive from coast to coast) with comparably little energy input (at most, a single battery charge before you leave). If he has managed to invent fusion or a better battery, he wouldn't bother with putting it in a car when he could sell it for billions as is. Perhaps you should stop reading the spin on the site and try reading a textbook. Us poor engineering students have to read lots of them.

Re:What is this? Hoax? No Details?

[Idarubicin]

As the parent post observes, this is obviously a sham.

I want to know--why has nobody on Slashdot mentioned the most important point?

If the car "can run coast to coast without ever...being charged" and "at the end of the allotted time period the battery bank will still register a FULL CHARGE condition", why does it need a battery bank in the first place?

If, as the Tilley Foundation web site states, "Your battery system will be fully charged at all times while in use", why do we need the batteries at all?