More bullshit.

[Pale Blue Dot]

What do we have hidden behind our curtains?

It's a collaborative project, that has been years in the making. We are primed and only days away from dropping a bomb on the automotive world. In our pursuit to completely reinvent the auto industry, we are going to make one hell of a run at making the world a better place.

Can we give you a little hint?

Well, our lawyers have given us specific guidelines in which we must not deviate from. Off the record: It could be the first unlimited mileage, electric car. This said car might have a revolutionary, self-regenerating battery system. This car would have some of the sexiest curves and doesn't resemble any electric car you have ever seen. Oh, and best of all, what would you say if you could buy this car for under $25,000?

The curtains will open and all information will be released on 8/18/2008 at 4:00PM CST. You better be back here, so you can proudly proclaim that you were part of this world changing event.

http://www.foshelectricauto.com/

This has been posted in LBN to the rapturous applause of the gullible.

[TZ]

1. Hmph.

Yeah and the Segway was gonna make automobiles unnecessary too.
So a company that makes traditional stuff always lies for profit.
But a company that promises a new "miraculous" invention doesn't have a profit motive and might not be honest?
Yeah as PT Barnum said "There's a sucker born every minute".

[onager]

2. Forget the car, I just need those batteries.

(Here's my ham-handed way of pointing out that, like so much in Woo-World, this kind of discovery would affect more than the automotive industry. It would amount to a revolution, with huge cost savings, in other industries as well. Just like Remote Viewing, dowsing and telekinesis would. If they only worked.)

Part of my job is maintaining an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). It's just a bigger version of the one you might have protecting your PC--when you lose regular electrical power, the UPS provides battery power until the juice starts flowing thru the wires again.

Since my UPS is protecting a whole system of servers, PCs and related crap, it uses (basically) 40 12-volt car batteries as the backup power source. If you're not a Creationist and can do simple math, you probably figured out that's 480 volts, with a maximum current best expressed scientifically as "fatal."

Every 3 to 4 years all those batteries have to be replaced, which is horrendously expensive and a giant headache.

So this self-regenerating battery system sounds like just what I need!

Too bad about all those battery manufacturers going out of business, but I guess you can't have everything...

[Warpy]

3. Wowie zowie! Perpetual motion!

I didn't bother to click on the link in LBN. I figured the DU physicists would have more fun with it than I could ever have.

[moggie]

4. People fall for it every. single. time

Bookmark it: next time a perpetual motion scam comes around, you'll probably see the same posters freaking out over it. Some people never learn. And one thing they don't understand is: we all want it to be true, even us "naysayers". Christ, if someone did somehow come up with a workable free energy scheme, I'd fall to my knees and weep tears of joy. But, until then, I'll remain skeptical, because of thermodynamics and human nature.

[trotsky]

5. And they have a built-in coping mechanism when it fails.

"The oil and car companies conspired to kill it."