Battery Vehicle Society

Deker wrote:Ballast to be a 70kg inertia flywheel that is spun up to silly thousands of revs by means as a braking device,
which is then engaged to drive the vehicle when moving off from a stop, or when ascending a steep hill

Deker

It worked OK for flywheel powered buses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrobus ). They had an electric motor and a big flywheel, but no engine or batteries. At the bus stop the electric motor was hooked up to power and span the flywheel up to speed, giving enough stored energy for the bus to drive to the next "charging point".

It's a pity they were scrapped, as it always seemed to me to be a neat and pollution free solution to urban public transport, with potentially low vehicle maintenance costs as well.

Jeremy

The only reason I even slightly dislike the flywheel idea is........'cos I didn't think of it

Brilliant way to recover serious percentage of braking energy expenditure - and...........(I GUESS...........)
In a way that offers the possibility a degree of extra stabilising-effect in a single-track vehicle?
And... provided astutely located in the vehicle?

I had a 'Guzzi Falcone, then an early Norton Atlas in the sixties, and several Honda CXs and BMW RTs in the '80s & 90s
All had handling quirks, some quite useful, which seemed to relate to engine-speed and maybe flywheel gyro-effects

Just my ha'pence worth
Comments would be educational and appreciated
Alll the best
Ed