Tesla 'accuse' Top Gear of being 'lying b'stards'

And again, I mentioned the idea of wireless electricity eventually replacing the batteries in the future. No batteries, no added weight, unlimited range, instant power. A while off, yes, but it's promising. Technology isn't easy. I never said that electric cars were the best solution right now. They could well be in a few years is what I'm saying. But at least people are working on it, which is, in my mind, a good thing.

Yeah I like the idea of frying everyone's brain because people are wirelessly recharging their cars all over the place.
 
Yeah I like the idea of frying everyone's brain because people are wirelessly recharging their cars all over the place.

MiT have demonstrated that electricity can be transmitted wirelessly over short distances without any harm caused to surrounding objects, including humans. It is essentially the Wardenclyffe Tower idea but with slightly different wireless technology.

You just appear to be ignorant to change. The ICE, as great an invention as it appears, is not perfect or the be-all-and-end-all. Hell, if teleportation ever became mainstream, I'd take it as a form of transport!
 
MiT have demonstrated that electricity can be transmitted wirelessly over short distances without any harm caused to surrounding objects, including humans. It is essentially the Wardenclyffe Tower idea but with slightly different wireless technology.

You just appear to be ignorant to change. The ICE, as great an invention as it appears, is not perfect or the be-all-and-end-all. Hell, if teleportation ever became mainstream, I'd take it as a form of transport!

Yeah I suppose they have tested charging 500 cars in a lot wirelessly..
I am baffled by your optimism for this kind of technology.
 
Yeah I suppose they have tested charging 500 cars in a lot wirelessly..
I am baffled by your optimism for this kind of technology.

For goodness' sake, I'm not saying it's perfect. All I am saying is that it is promising technology. Nothing is perfect to begin with. I am baffled by your refusal to accept any new technological progress.
 
When the gas powered car was introduced to replace horses people were worried that distributing gas to the people would cause explosions and fires and mass death. Nuclear power plants would give rise to mutant races. The super collider at CERN would create a black hole and destory the universe. People are still afraid cell phones cause brain tumors. Just because you believe in something stupid doesn't make it true.

If you think about how many wireless communication devices, how many power lines, how many everything electrical and all the magnetic fields that we created surround us every day, it's a wonder how someone who's afraid of wireless electricity can even go outside. My electric shaver is charged by a wireless charging station. I'm not dead yet, nor have I mutated a third nipple, and as far as I know Spiderman hasn't evolved from the various bugs in my apartment.

The arguments against electric cars are antiquated and stupid. Leno and May say the same thing, the birth of gas powered cars didn't end the horse. They still exist, and people still enjoy them, probably even more so now than when they were entirely relied on for every day transport. The car didn't spell the end of the train. The airplane didn't spell the end of the ship. I like the idea of being able to go outside and have an electric bus go by and not choke on diesel fumes, as much as I like the idea of driving my gas powered (manual) car to nowhere in particular just for the sake of driving my gas powered car. The electric car is ideal for every day short-distance transport since the mechanisms inside the car are simple, the emmisions within a local and heavily populated area (such as a large city) are limited, and the energy source is relatively inexpensive. As of right now, yes, we rely on coal and oil and nuclear power plants for electricity, but that won't necessarily be true in the future. We can improve on solar power, we can improve on geothermal power, we can improve on hydrodynamic power, as a few examples.

No one (intelligent) is implying to entirely replace gas powered cars with electric, because there will always be people like us who enjoy gas powered cars. But you can't stop advancement. As long as we keep our human ingenuity, things will change. And just because you're afraid, doesn't mean everything will stay the same.
 
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Yeah I like the idea of frying everyone's brain because people are wirelessly recharging their cars all over the place.

Wow, is this 1990? Frying everyone's brain? Really?

I bet you've also seen ghosts and been abducted by aliens.
 
Wait I'm sorry WIRELESS electricity? WIRELESS? I know I haven't been following this thread (arguments like this annoy me), but have you people ever heard of Nikola Tesla and tried to replicate any of his work at all? Wireless electricity is the most loss-ey transmission process of absolutely anything that I can think of. You must be as mad as Tesla! This was proven decades ago. I've worked with a Tesla coil and wireless transmission and let me tell you, you aren't powering any car this way. You can barely power a lightbulb and the range is in the inch/centimeter ballpark. Good heavens.

You know, this is no different from the introduction of any other "modern" invention. People were afraid of steam power, electric lights, microwave ovens, and unleaded gasoline. It's a bunch of hullabaloo propaganda from the extremists (on both sides mind you). You don't really want to be like that do you?
 
A group at Berkeley powered a bus around a track using this method around 1990. It's about 80% efficient at a distance of 4in (10cm). Put this in a parking lot, and you can easily charge a smaller battery while you're shopping. But there are different, more mid-range distance methods now, such as what they have at MIT. They have long range methods too, that can broadcast power-plant sized energy across several miles. Efficiency is a problem, but that will get sorted out.
 
When the gas powered car was introduced to replace horses people were worried that distributing gas to the people would cause explosions and fires and mass death. Nuclear power plants would give rise to mutant races. The super collider at CERN would create a black hole and destory the universe. People are still afraid cell phones cause brain tumors. Just because you believe in something stupid doesn't make it true.

If you think about how many wireless communication devices, how many power lines, how many everything electrical and all the magnetic fields that we created surround us every day, it's a wonder how someone who's afraid of wireless electricity can even go outside. My electric shaver is charged by a wireless charging station. I'm not dead yet, nor have I mutated a third nipple, and as far as I know Spiderman hasn't evolved from the various bugs in my apartment.

The arguments against electric cars are antiquated and stupid. Leno and May say the same thing, the birth of gas powered cars didn't end the horse. They still exist, and people still enjoy them, probably even more so now than when they were entirely relied on for every day transport. The car didn't spell the end of the train. The airplane didn't spell the end of the ship. I like the idea of being able to go outside and have an electric bus go by and not choke on diesel fumes, as much as I like the idea of driving my gas powered (manual) car to nowhere in particular just for the sake of driving my gas powered car. The electric car is ideal for every day short-distance transport since the mechanisms inside the car are simple, the emmisions within a local and heavily populated area (such as a large city) are limited, and the energy source is relatively inexpensive. As of right now, yes, we rely on coal and oil and nuclear power plants for electricity, but that won't necessarily be true in the future. We can improve on solar power, we can improve on geothermal power, we can improve on hydrodynamic power, as a few examples.

No one (intelligent) is implying to entirely replace gas powered cars with electric, because there will always be people like us who enjoy gas powered cars. But you can't stop advancement. As long as we keep our human ingenuity, things will change. And just because you're afraid, doesn't mean everything will stay the same.

Makes perfect sense to me. Completely agree.
 
Wow, is this 1990? Frying everyone's brain? Really?

I bet you've also seen ghosts and been abducted by aliens.

Yeah lets go way overboard here.
Do you know anything of this technology at all? No?
Well let me explain.

Fact 1:
The experiments they have done today with wirelessly charging very tiny batteries are done by making magnetic fields, and then converting this back into electricity to charge your battery/device. This is called magnetic induction.

Fact 2:
They have claimed that the magnetic fields this produces are no stronger than the earth's natural magnetic field, which (here in Norway at least) is about 50 microtesla, and thus concluded that it is not harmful to people.

Fact 3:
To charge a battery the size that could be used in cars, they would have to increase the strength of the magnetic fields with a factor of probably more than 100000, unless they want you to use years charging your car.
Not to mention the fact that if they want to be able to charge it over a distance of more than a couple inches, they'd have to crank it up by a ridiculous amount more. Would you risk having your head permanently placed inside a very strong magnetic field when you are chilling at home? No?

Have you heard stories about people living below highvoltage powerlines getting chronic headaches and other problems?
Do you know why? Because of the magnetic fields created by the powerlines.

So in conclusion, this will probably never ever be used to charged anything more than batteries for house appliances and small devices like mobile phones and laptops.
 
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But Nissan are already planning to use it...

They are planning to use it based on the small amounts of charging they have currently managed to get reasonably stable?
Do you have a link/URL to this story ?
 
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I doubt that we will "never ever" see mass broadcast of wireless electricity powerful enough to power cars, but it is very far off right now. Barring a freak breakthrough, this is not something to consider for the near future.
 
Well, yes that is some blog claiming something.
There has been no reports suggestion that this has any truth to it, other than Nissan doing research on the matter, which is probably true.
I guess time will tell.

The article is easily discoverable by Googling. It's not just a blog by someone, it was a news item. No need for sarcasm.

I doubt that we will "never ever" see mass broadcast of wireless electricity powerful enough to power cars, but it is very far off right now. Barring a freak breakthrough, this is not something to consider for the near future.

Indeed it is far off, but any step towards it is a positive one.
 
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What was the wireless transmission mode proposed in the first place?

Magnetic induction might not work very well for transferring large amounts of energy, but microwave power will do quite nicely. Thing is, in order to have a nice, safe low-intensity beam the antenna will need to be pretty large.

By definition microwaves (very low frequency) actually have a low enough power density that they are really quite safe, but it's really up to each of us to decide if we are comfortable with the technology.
Article on Microwave Power Transmission Safety
 
What was the wireless transmission mode proposed in the first place?

Magnetic induction might not work very well for transferring large amounts of energy, but microwave power will do quite nicely. Thing is, in order to have a nice, safe low-intensity beam the antenna will need to be pretty large.

By definition microwaves (very low frequency) actually have a low enough power density that they are really quite safe, but it's really up to each of us to decide if we are comfortable with the technology.
Article on Microwave Power Transmission Safety

Alot of what they describe in that paper dont sound very comforting :rolleyes:
 
Well, if you're afraid of the ~2.4GHz frequency band, you better stay clear of bluetooth, wifi, or almost anything else wireless.
 
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