BMW has responded to powerful new rivals with updates for the M5 and M6 - including a racy new 575hp Competition Package option
90mph wind-powered car built in China
90mph wind-powered car
1 of 7
Share this Gallery
This extraordinary wind-powered car can reach speeds of nearly 90mph.
The home-built contraption is the brainchild of Chinese farmer Tang Zhengping, and was born out of his love for electronic gadgets.
related stories on msn
109Comments
24/04/2012 08:39
Can't believe it's Chinese, the lines and styling look so french.
24/04/2012 04:45
Whilst I only studied physics formally until my 'o' levels in 1967 (grade 2 pass), I have retained an interest in practical applications since. Simple physics must be applied to this project, and keeping it as simple as possible for all of the hopeful alchemists out there, there truly is nothing for nothing. The fan cannot contribute more energy than it absorbs, assuming level travel in still air. This does not factor in other losses due to friction, by-pass, etc. All motion depends upon conversion of a form of energy, whether fossil, nuclear, 'green' or from an imaginary source not yet discovered. It is the improvement in the conversion of that energy towards 100% efficiency which is the Holy Grail of physics and, whilst 100% is an un-attainable dream, the current achieved levels of 20% to 60% or so can surely be bettered.
Tang Zhengping's assertions bear similarities to the pyramid money-making schemes which people swore could generate wealth from nothing - do you remember them?
23/04/2012 23:01
Wind powered car? I'm a big fan.
So am I but how will the government get their tax from it without taxing the air we breathe ?
24/04/2012 09:17
AT LEAST HE TRIED , ITS MORE THAN THE GREEDY B***ARDS IN HIS WONDERFULL COUNTRY OF OURS HAVE DONE / OUR GOVERNMENT WOULD FIRST BE LOOKING AT THE POSSABILITY OF WIND TAX FIRST THEN HOW MUCH WOULD THEY GET OUT OF IT
24/04/2012 00:10
wind powered??? i believe my wife could build one capable of 200 mph with amount of wind she produces the morning after a vindaloo
24/04/2012 08:59
Sure it might look like an entry for the whacky races, but if its a genuine car then i say play fair and give the man credit for creating a machine, especially if it works as described in an earlier post.They said you cant build a wind-up radio/torch in the 70's as the size of the mechanics and motor would be too big and size of the generator would be like a car alternator.... that you cant get free energy. Im sure the same was said about solar panels. I like inventors, people who create, especially when its not some giant company .
24/04/2012 11:05
Unfortunately, the fact that nothing is for nothing seems to escape many. Yes, the fan or 'turbine' mounted at the front of this vehicle can recover some of the 'lost' energy which would be otherwise given to air turbulence, but it generates additional turbulence (energy loss) of its own. Yes, the generators and batteries also 'supply' energy, but generators use energy to create electricity at an efficiency of less than 100% (much less in fact) and 'batteries' as used in this context are more properly called 'accumulators' which accept and dispense electricity, including that stored to make the vehicle move initially. The driving motors just use energy. As I mentioned before, when 'money-making' pyramid schemes were rife a few years ago, many claimed that they were faultless and could go on forever, making everyone rich. Simple mathematics were used to prove that they could not work, despite the hysterics of promotors and supporters. Where are they now? NOTHING IS FOR NOTHING.
24/04/2012 09:42
Nick Platt, I'm guessing you didn't do GCSE Science. Or maybe you're tongue-in-cheek in which case excuse the humour fail. For a start, motion cannot 'produce' energy as energy cannot fundamentally be created or destroyed, only transferred from one state or body to another through chemical or physical processes. A car that harnesses its own motion to 'store' energy to propel it again would be a perpetual motion device - physically impossible as demonstrated by the second law of thermodynamics, and a concept which has defeated both great minds and crazies throughout the centuries.
That's not at all what this car is anyway, it's a science nightmare. Let's say the fan does charge the batteries when it's going downhill and coasting, for all the time the car is under it's own power the spinning fan creates extra drag which cancels out the gains, unless there is a sophisticated feathering mechanism as in prop planes (not mentioned of course) to reduce the blades' drag.
That's not to say I deplore the guy, it's an awesome curiosity and hats off to him for getting in the news!
24/04/2012 00:06
10 out of 10 for Mr. Zhengping.
First, when I read that it was wind-powered I expected it to run on methane (geddit ?).
Second, this car is ELECTRICALLY POWERED dodo's, but it is designed to be hyper efficient in system usage and energy conservation. Even with a Noddy car shell (lack of !) aerodynamics, to nullify a lot of good, the man is still pointing the way.
His design may look clownish, but it IS very sophisticated.
They invented paper, gunpowder, egg-fried noodles, do not underestimate the Chinese people. They were Great once and are now Great again.
Peace.
24/04/2012 07:29
Paint it black and market it as My First Batmobile. He's definitely on the right track though.
24/04/2012 01:37
someone said use a smaller engine with the hybrids but the simple fact is the engine is there for speeds of over 30 mph because the electric motor is only so powerful so using a 200cc engine would be absoloutly pointless the car would max out at 30-40 thats not enough in england if you wanna be able to drive on motorways they have realtivly small engines anyway 1l-1.6l engines are tiny for a car if you didnt know about the massive 4l-6l v12s and onwards and to the person on about the dynamo on the wheels there are things like that on your conventional car that being the alternator you could fit that to the electric motor so that you charge the batteries as you drive but the resulting efect means that the motor would end up lossing power and to stick to the subject this guy is a genious i mean wow from my point of veiw as a mechanic he is a genious he has acctualy solved the problem about electric cars kudos to him
24/04/2012 09:15
How bizar that folk should ridicule such inovation.
Invention is essential and to me this is an inovative breakthrough. To me it just makes sense, as we all know that motion produces energy and it only makes sense that a car,s forward motion should be harnessed by the car to generate it's own electricity to charge the batteries for fuel and me I wouldn't stop at just harnessing the wind and solar energy. Why not harness the motion of the wheels too, to drive micro turbines to produce further electricity. In theory a car could be invented that would create all it's own fuel necesary to drive without the need to ever purchase fuel.
Big draw back is though, governments and the rich would never allow it, as they wouldn't be bale to make revenue from normal folk in tax or VAT.
24/04/2012 07:31
if some of the people commenting on this are such good physicians then why don't you go and create better, the man is a farmer and he's done this....
24/04/2012 09:42
WHY is MSN not allowing us to comment on their other headlines on the home page that are vitally more important to our sense of DEMOCRACY (I use the term very lightly) than this drivel? For example... "Tories Hit By Dramatic Poll Slump" and "James Murdoch to face Leveson Grilling Today"
Stop feeding us this sh1t MSN and let us comment on the real news.
24/04/2012 12:38
well i praise this guy, the rush to get electric cars on the market has produced some right turnips with short range , and not even thought how to get a simple electric car to charge its self its not hard as this man proves in some cases a large dynamo would charge batteries by converting motion into electricity via a 12 v to 240 volt conversion and with some clever gearing could make the dynamo spin to great speeds to get enough power to the battery. example is a wind turbine turns the wind into motion -and motion into electricity and a single one can power many homes.
now you got to ask why this is , if a car that was produced could charge its self without needing to go to the socket the government would not make any money on taxing people to charge there cars
this is not about producing cars that can produce there own energy its about suckering people into believing that these cars on the market will solve the fuel crises and save the earth but infact its a money driven plan to get everyone on the grid and getting the millions of car owners to charge millions of cars which will lead to more pollution becase of demand which would lead to its own fossil fuel crises which will need a swich to nuclear energy and nuclear rods being dumped left right and center and sold off for weapons manufacture and demise of planet earth anyway, its about money money money and intervening where possible to make money
you can take this any way but i think that ill drive my old discovery until the government get there noses out and let the car manufactures get on with it
now you got to ask why this is , if a car that was produced could charge its self without needing to go to the socket the government would not make any money on taxing people to charge there cars
this is not about producing cars that can produce there own energy its about suckering people into believing that these cars on the market will solve the fuel crises and save the earth but infact its a money driven plan to get everyone on the grid and getting the millions of car owners to charge millions of cars which will lead to more pollution becase of demand which would lead to its own fossil fuel crises which will need a swich to nuclear energy and nuclear rods being dumped left right and center and sold off for weapons manufacture and demise of planet earth anyway, its about money money money and intervening where possible to make money
you can take this any way but i think that ill drive my old discovery until the government get there noses out and let the car manufactures get on with it
24/04/2012 11:51
Looks like we may be alone here, Norman. I suspect most people with a basic understanding of the physical world don't even give this a second glance, but things like this annoy me so much I occasionally feel the need to rant! I've only got A-Level physics but the article is clearly written by someone who thinks it might be feasible or wants to make others think its is feasible, either of which is bad enough. At 90mph I doubt even a powerful motorbike engine could push this barn door through the air with a fan spinning on the front. It might do 90 if you drove it off a cliff! Even the solar panel part of it is laughable looking at the size of the 'wings' and the amount of energy likely to be captured. Rant over 
23/04/2012 19:33
Some 20 years ago, I looked at the different ways to do this very thing- Think of the turbine,or, jet engine. iF THE EXTERNAL FAN IS THE FIRST OF A SERIES OF FANS, AS IN A JET ENGINE, WITH SLIPPING CLUTCHES TO ENGAGE EACH FAN, AS IT SPEEDS UP, THE POWER WOULD BE ENOUGH-JUST NEEDS WORKING ON.
As far as electrics go, it should be possible to charge batteries at even low enough revolutions, so it is possible to use the batteries mainly for starting and lights etc: Think about an engine like the Mazda rotary engine, and work on the use of the incoming air to enable the rotary engine to be turned by the higher pressure (instead of fossel fuel) A few adjustments by the engine builder would make this possible.... - Those whomlaugh at this, may not have the last laugh -I was considering attempting building this over 35 years ago (too old now) The drawings I made all those years ago, include the compressed air engine (I have seen that being tested a while ago) and The air/electric version, using solar power, and this turbo style version of the Mazda rotary engine. Come on you brainecs of today- make yourself that fortune, and put something together- might find we can make something more than this fan driven one.
24/04/2012 00:25
Sam Milnes
So you reckon it could travel as fast as two 'G's?
24/04/2012 00:23
That is one 'G' looking car, with one 'G' looking driver
Report
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
Latest Cars videos
Aston Martin Rapide (2013) review
A significant horsepower boost and some restyling brings the Aston Rapide on leaps and bounds
Date 21/05/13, Duration 2:30, Views 665
Video by: MSN Cars
-
Aston Martin Rapide (2013) review
Date 21/05/13 2:30Tooltip Information:
Aston Martin Rapide (2013) reviewVideo by:Description: A significant horsepower boost and some restyling brings the Aston Rapide on leaps and boundsRating: 4Views: 665
-
Frankfurt 2011 - Aston Martin V12 Zagato
Date 13/09/11 1:38Tooltip Information:
Frankfurt 2011 - Aston Martin V12 ZagatoVideo by:Description: MSN Cars video of the Aston V12 Zagato live at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2011Rating: 5Views: 14720
-
Watch a MINI do a 360-degree backflip!
Date 19/02/13 1:20Tooltip Information:
Watch a MINI do a 360-degree backflip!Video by:Description: French daredevil Guerlain Chicherit performs a backflip in a MINI in Tignes, FranceRating: 4Views: 28293
-
Seat Leon review
Date 09/01/13 2:49Tooltip Information:
Seat Leon reviewVideo by:Description: The brand new 2013 Leon delivers the drive and value to seriously impressRating: 4Views: 25626
More on msn Cars
McLaren P1 stars in Forza Motorsport 5 - here's our guide to the cars and tracks
The CR-V has proved practical and comfy this month, but it's still not that exciting
Which are the top selling car models globally? Find out here
Daihatsu’s Charade looks like a boring econo-box city car. Let us assure you, it isn’t.
Lexus’s new IS has got the looks, but falls short due to some uninspiring engines
Photo diary: backstage at the 2013 International Mini Meeting in Italy
The car stories of the Hollywood actors at Cannes Film Festival
Renault teams up with F1 champions Red Bull Racing to create a very special new Megane Renaultsport
Auto Trader reports searches for white cars have soared by 600%. We round up white car hits and misses
It may not look much different, but BMW’s slick 5 Series has been upgraded for 2013
The rants and raves of Top Gear's most famous son...
