Двигатели на воде, электромобили... 45 лет назад в СССР было всё

This car appeared on the streets of Kharkov in 1976. Journalists immediately called it the car of the future. Approaching the gas station, the driver, as you can see, is not interested in gasoline. He fills the tank of the car with ordinary water. Water instead of gasoline. We are answered by an employee of the Institute of Mechanical Problems of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In our car, instead of a tank with gasoline, a miniature reactor is installed. An energy-accumulating substance is put into it, water enters the chemical reaction with it, and hydrogen is released as a result. In a mixture with air, it is fed into the combustion chamber of the engine cylinder, and then everything is as usual. This unusual car was invented and assembled by Eduard Melnikov. And he called it an intracycle. Intra means inside, cycle, circle, wheel. It turns out inside the wheel. Speed up to 60 km per hour. You can turn on the spot. And the road does not need an intracycle. It will go through any path. The intracycle is arranged like this. Inside the motionless circle is the engine. It rotates the gear, and this rotation is transmitted to the teeth of the external moving wheel. And again the intracycle goes along the highway. It goes carefully, without violating the rules of movement. Have a nice trip! An electric car is the most common electric car these days. But you can't go far on it. Why? Everything determines the reserve of energy. This tank with gasoline in volume is equal to a battery. But on gasoline, the car will go much further. Hence, the main task of the designers is to catch up with an ordinary car in terms of energy efficiency. An electric car is convenient, and at short distances it is profitable. For example, in the field of maintenance, where the daily mileage usually does not exceed several dozen kilometers. Such cars are already being tested on the streets of Moscow. Look. Once and passed. And the rise is steep. In 1972, the Soviet Union is supposed to release the first serial electric cars. That's how it will come. And while the loading is in progress, the electricity will be refueled. Soviet scientists already know how to charge the batteries in a matter of minutes. A car refueling station of the near future will provide transport with both gasoline and electricity. Charged for 100 kilometers. Disconnected. And drove. And is it impossible to increase the mileage between charges? Or completely abandon them? It is possible. This is how this hybrid appeared with the power plant on board. On the highway, the gasoline engine through the generator powers the traction motor and charges the battery. In the city, without noise and without poisoning the air, you can go on batteries. And this solution is not the only one. For almost a year, the electric car has been moving on the Moon using the energy of the Sun. Something similar, the designers want to do on Earth. There are no specific projects yet, but the idea is developing. The opportunity to use solar batteries is tempting. How good would such electric cars be in southern cities. The direction of research is different. Scientists are looking for more capacious batteries. Experiments are underway with new sources of electricity. The car is still full of strength, but a competitor is born nearby.