Title text:
"How does the spring not run out almost immediately?" "We pull it back REALLY far."
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3244/
xkcd #3244: Pullback Drive
Title text:
"How does the spring not run out almost immediately?" "We pull it back REALLY far."
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3244/
38 Comments
s@piefed.world · 111 pts · 91d
Put another pullback motor in but backwards and you’ve got yourself infinite energy
Cocodapuf@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 91d
You've just revolutionized green energy! I expect your Nobel Prize is in the mail!
Better start working on a speech!
notabot@piefed.social · 18 pts · 91d
Nobel committee? Yes... that one right there... they've just solved the world's energy problems forever, please give them all the medals!
Hacksaw@lemmy.ca · 14 pts · 91d
Sorry we don't give medals anymore. Last time we gave out a medal to someone, Trump invaded their country and only left when the medal was given to him. Our insurance company just won't allow it anymore.
probable_possum@leminal.space · 5 pts · 91d
You invented recuperation braking. Nice.
Hoimo@ani.social · 46 pts · 91d
Put a big wind-up key on the back for when it runs out.
lime@feddit.nu · 18 pts · 91d
i've seen people do that with vw beetles. it's cute.
ButteryMonkey@piefed.social · 9 pts · 91d
Hand-crank starters were in production until the 90s apparently. The lada niva (a small weird truck thing) had them through 1998. Who knew?
I know it’s not quite the same but.. wind up key part is! I was gunna find a pic but there don't seem to be any showing the crank in use, only videos.
fartographer@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 91d
That was a great read, thanks for sharing!
atopi@piefed.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 91d
or dont do that for planned obsolescence
eigenraum@discuss.tchncs.de · 34 pts · 91d
Exactly what I'm looking for, I live on a mountain and work in the valley.
Opisek@piefed.blahaj.zone · 24 pts · 91d
For this to work, you've gotta bring more weight down than you do back up.
Thankfully, you can just leave all your hopes and dreams at the workplace to make your car lighter on the way back!
xylol@leminal.space · 16 pts · 91d
Also your poop, drink coffee on the way in
spamspeicher@feddit.org · 5 pts · 91d
Or get free delivery of dumbbells and other heavy stuff to your house and send them back from your workplace.
egrets@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 91d
So you reverse the car to work and then coast your way home on spring power? I guess you'd have to go the long way into work.
death_to_carrots@feddit.org · 2 pts · 91d
Sounds like a gravity battery.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 91d
Imagine a spring large enough to last 200,000 miles.
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de · 12 pts · 91d
sounds like a great what if post
who@feddit.org · 6 pts · 91d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Windup_Girl
chiliedogg@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 91d
I feel like I had one installed over my garage door.
cybervseas@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 91d
I can't remember which car but an early hybrid vehicle did charge up a flywheel instead of an electric battery…
thebestaquaman@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 91d
I heard about a version that used springs as well. Basically a pull-back car: When you break, it puts tension on the springs, then it releases that tension when accelerating. Apparently it was very good for city-driving, since you get an absurd number of cycles with very small "charges", which makes it very good when you do a lot of start/stop driving in slow traffic. I'm not sure why I haven't heard any more about it in more recent years.
homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 91d
*brake*
thebestaquaman@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 91d
Idk about you, but I usually build tension when I break.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 91d
I build tension before I break, but maybe I'm weird.
thebestaquaman@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 91d
That's right the actual moment of breaking usually releases tension, but the overall process of breaking includes building it up!
xylol@leminal.space · 4 pts · 91d
Maybe its some sort of human degradation fuel system, as you break down it powers the car?
NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 91d
Bcz springs wear out is my guess. That's the first thing I'd worry about in the design is how many cycles can it handle before performance is degraded. Might be a lot, but even if it's a couple years, people aren't going to be happy when their car performance suddenly drops off right after they finish paying the thing off.
thebestaquaman@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 90d
You're probably right, at the same time, a spring that isn't overloaded can usually take an absurd amount of cycles: Just think about how long the suspension on a car typically lasts compared to a lot of other parts.
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 91d
i think it was a bus, and it was used in hills to get extra energy while going down and using ot while going up.
Jakylla@jlai.lu · 3 pts · 91d
I heard about racing car having spinning wheels too, instead of br
eaking before turns, accumulating energy into them, then after the turn, releasing them for huge accelerationhomesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 91d
*braking*
xylol@leminal.space · 8 pts · 91d
If its a race car it does both
Jakylla@jlai.lu · 2 pts · 91d
Thanks for the fix ;)
neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 91d
Unironically, how you recharge a Rivian if the battery is dead.
femtek@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 91d
This would have been cool for myth busters to try out.
onnekas@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 90d
Well, I think it's clear that this would work. The only question is what distances it could reach? 100m? a kilometer? more?
Norn@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 91d
This reminds me of the advanced spring powered devices in Syberia (the adventure game). I wonder if it is even remotely feasible to store that much power in springs, probably not.