I remain puzzled by the seemingly unresolved problem with electric cars of battery recharging?
Just before I bought my now (old) Skoda Superb, I remember blooking at aJapanese car - I think a Toyota thet offered self-charging, which as far as I could make out seemed a variant on the battery re-charging that happens anyway in a car. Not a techie in any way but this seemed logical to me, and I rmembered this little beauty of the early 1900s
I hope this appears? It is rge first hybrid car prodiced in about 1901 called a Lochner and the secret is in the front wheels which are in reality dynamos. Another piece of amazing motoring engineering by one Ferdinand Porsche.
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Fabulous car… and what a great idea, all those years ago…
Wish it was lurking in my garage… 
I aspire more to self-opening tins of corned-beef or self-unscrewing Bovril jars than self-charging voitures.
No uninvited vegan critiques svp. 
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Those push-and-squeeze monstrosities? I find it easier to chew them off, spitting out the bits, as my teeth are stronger than my hands and wrists. I draw the line at drain-cleaner though. And gas bottles.
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They are adult proof but merely child resistant. 
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Hopefully a lot quieter than the knackered old stone crushers he went on to produce! 
In the case of Toyota, it’s pure BS, putting petroleum into a car to charge the battery is not self charging. An electric car going down a hill would be self charging courtesy of the regenerative braking.
No doubt there are silly people who will believe Toyota though. 
Exploded view of the wheel. I am not an expert but it looks pretty much like a standard dynamo layout? Of course things were different in 1901.
Re Porsche generally, I had a now sadly demised friend in the European Space Agency based in Germany
who told me that Porsche were massively over-engineered, most of which could have been avoided by simply putting the engine in the front.
I only ever went in a POrsche once and felt as if I was lying on my back. I confess to being deeply unimpressed with the car - although I can’t remember the model, but it was new in 1982. Odd that he could have designed such a practical vehicle as the VW Beetle though wasn’t it? Also one of those quirks of history that he and Hitler were so iconically German, when both were actually Austrian?
Small world Norman…
a member of my family (also deceased) was with ESA… some years ago…
My friend was Chris Plummer - who apparently also worked on the original GPS programme. Ring any bells?
No to to me… my brother was involved in several space projects… I am only discovering now, when it is too late, some of the things he got up to … (sadly, he was no James Bond character though… more the nutty professor) 
Hi Stella,
yes it is very sad. Chris was one of my MBA senior students and was way brighter than anyone else. He was one of those quiet ones who had a very Englsih sense of humour and wde became friends over the period and remained so until he died - although as he was a bit of a loner I never heard exactly but I did know he was desperately ill with cancer and his last message to me indicated that it was the end looming. Only in his late-forties which was a tragedy. Looking back I realise I was very much older than him, but it never seemed like that, we were ‘mates’ which means a lot to me as we don’t get many of those in life.
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Made some very stylish tractors
I have regenerative braking in a car and over a tank (so far only a couple of tank fulls as I haven’t had it long) it’s added maybe 1-1.5 % to mileage (about 15km). Haven’t really tried to make the most of it as I tend to drive in eco mode and slowly tootle up to stops anyway. Hardly use the brakes and the stupid car insists on brake pad change at some point regardless of how worn they are.
Normally there are wear sensors on the pads which come into play when the pad thickness is reduced to a certain point and usually way too early. Friends with full electric vehicle haven’t had to change their pads at all yet +2 years as regenerative braking uses the motors.
I know. I would’ve expected something like that, but the car has already decided when it will happen. Unless it’s really smart and is measuring the rate of wear and estimates that’s when they will need replacing based on the current usage.
If VW can program their cars to lie under test, who knows?
on bottles/jars/whatever…