If you’ve ever imagined a future filled with flying cars, your dream might be getting slightly closer to reality.
Chinese researchers at Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, Sichuan province, performed road tests last week for modified passenger cars that use magnets to float 35 millimeters above a conductor rail, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
The researchers outfitted the sedans with powerful magnets on the vehicle floors, allowing them to levitate over a conductor rail nearly five miles in length. Eight cars in total were tested, with one test reaching speeds of roughly 143 miles per hour, according to the report.
Xinhua says the tests were run by government transportation authorities to study safety measures for high-speed driving. But Deng Zigang, one of the university professors who developed the vehicles, told the state news agency that using magnetic levitation for passenger vehicles has the potential to reduce energy usage and increase the vehicles’ range.
That could be useful for the electric vehicle industry’s issues with “range anxiety,” or when consumers fear they won’t be able to complete a trip in an electric vehicle without running out of power.
Read More at https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/17/china-testing-floating-car-that-uses-magnets-to-hover-at-143-mph.html