FormulaNova said...
Macroscien, I think one of the limiting factors in drag cars past a certain point is traction.
Your electric tram would have the same problem. I don't think power is actually a problem with these cars so much as getting it down to the tarmac.
Why would you want to use a pantograph? What are you proving by doing that?
1. With access available power you could create for example reverse hovercraft : suck air from beneath car or push down with fan. Now you have your unlimited traction. I have been even considering using belt instead of tires. Similar to your ordinary belt sander but re-sized to support whole car. Now you could very easy suck the air through small holes in that belt to make it stick to the ground. Theoretically should run on the ceiling upside down too.
Even if you look at fastest dragsters today they still relay on gravity only to keep them steady at the start. If you push down nose of that long dragster using fan - vehicle should tilt to the back (prance)
2. Pantograph to have access to unlimited external power source without worry to carry heavy battery - will do for race track,
From the beginning the only limitation to electric car evolution was and still is lack of high density energy storage. Otherwise electric cars could beat combustion cars on all fronts: price, reliability , simplicity etc.
One day, just matter of time and resources pureed into the projects and research new revolutionary battery will be developed. Small and light but with almost unlimited potential storage.
By then we could concentrate and build the rest of the electric car - mean complete EV but without storage device. There is still long way to design proper EV without inheritance of heavy metal frame tanks running on our roads today.
