China is betting big on the development of magnetic levitation transport . If in the middle of last year he was testing a prototype train with this technology that reached a speed of 600 km/h, now it is the turn of a car developed by scientists at Southwest Jiaotong University.
The vehicle is a normal car that has been modified to be maglev (magnetic levitation) technology. An array of magnets was installed on it. A conductive rail was placed on the road where it had to circulate, allowing the vehicle to levitate. The result was that the car rose about 3.5 centimeters above the road , but it did not circulate in a “controlled” manner, but rather oscillated to the right and left throughout the journey, and even the wheels stopped floating at some moments. and hit the ground.
In addition to this, another road test was carried out that day. On this occasion, eight vehicles were tested, five of them running totally or partially on electricity or hydrogen. The cars traveled along a 7.9 kilometer stretch of motorway, at a maximum speed of about 230 km/h.
Despite the failures that have been detected, Professor Deng Zigang has been happy and told China Daily that the test has been a success and that they will continue working on the development of cars with magnetic levitation technology. Although we are still far from traveling in levitating cars, if technology advances, vehicles in the future could travel even longer distances efficiently , reducing energy consumption. In fact, China considers maglev technology to be one of the candidates to replace combustion engines, along with hydrogen and electric cars.
The objective of the tests, organized by the transport authorities of Jiangsu province, was to study the design of roads and the safety measures to be taken in case of driving at high speeds with new alternative propulsion technologies. to combustion engines .
Maglev trains are known for their impressive efficiency and speed, with large networks in countries like Japan offering trips of up to 600 kilometers per hour. Will we reach similar speeds in the future by traveling in our own car?
