Are electric cars over engineered?

[Robotrium]

TL;DR Summary

I can remember sliding down the hill on a sled, could a slipper car be made using two tracks and soapy water inside with a tube with a slit on top to hook a slip stop the body of a car with no wheels.

Why are cars so over engineered? A sled sliding down a set of tracks is much simpler than wheels. An aluminum tube with a slider fitted trough an open slit on top could be driven with a ,three phase coil built into the slider, to drive it forward or to stop. Three phase electric current from a power station would be inside each of three tubes. I slipped when going through the garage door and there wasn't hardly any friction from the slide. Programs from inside the car would would automatically send the car in the selected direction

 

[DaveC426913]

Because cars that fail and kill people don't sell well?

More on-point: what does "a sled sliding down a set of tracks" and "an aluminum tube with a slider fitted trough an open slit" have to do with an automobile that can carry 4 passengers and their gear 300 miles, affordably, in comfort and safety?

 

[Rive]

A sled sliding down a set of tracks is much simpler than wheels.

One of the most important features of cars is that they can go (almost) anywhere, without the need of laying tracks first.

...there wasn't hardly any friction from the slide.

Let's talk about brakes, then...

Why are cars so over engineered?

Why shoes are so over engineered? You could just walk barefoot. Simplest thing in the world, still in use after some 100k years.

 

[Baluncore]

are electric cars over engineered?

Electric cars are not over-engineered. They are built to meet the regulations, all for a price that will capture sufficient market share.
What sort of troll are you?

 

[DaveE]

I've heard that the roads here in California are maintained pretty well compared to some other states, yet I am still hitting potholes and seeing lanes closed for maintenance frequently. Who do you think will build your aluminum tubes? How much will they cost compared to wheels? How well will they work when they are damaged? Who will fix them? Who will pay for it, you through higher taxes?

Do you really think you've discovered a solution that none of the big automakers or governments have thought of? I'll give you 10 out of 10 points for self esteem, but I wouldn't hire you for an engineering job.

BTW: you might want to read about Maglev trains. They are real and sort of cool, IMO. Although they'll never replace all of the cars.

 

[jedishrfu]

Sadly, your suggestion of using sliding rails would be too costly and disrupt existing systems of transportation.

Its akin to the issue of burying power lines vs using poles and power lines strung overhead. The burying version costs 2x more per mile than does stringing lines overhead. Its why modern subdivision housing may use underground cables to avoid unsightly lines but elsewhere poles and stringing lines are used.

https://homeguide.com/costs/cost-to-run-power

For some municipalities, earthquakes are frequent enough that burying cables is not an option.

 

[PeroK]

A sled sliding down a set of tracks is much simpler than wheels. An aluminum tube with a slider fitted trough an open slit on top could be driven with a ,three phase coil built into the slider, to drive it forward or to stop. Three phase electric current from a power station would be inside each of three tubes. Programs from inside the car would would automatically send the car in the selected direction

This is over-engineering! Or, trolling? One of the two.

 

[jrmichler]

An aluminum tube with a slider fitted trough an open slit on top could be driven with a ,three phase coil built into the slider, to drive it forward or to stop. Three phase electric current from a power station would be inside each of three tubes.

This is not enough to qualify as an idea. In order to be an idea, you need to:
1) Sketch up a system
and
2) Do some calculations to estimate sizes of tubes, amount of copper wire, amount of power required, speeds, and traffic capacity.
and
3) Compare to the existing system of cars on roads to show relative advantages and disadvantages of each system

That's enough entertainment for today, so this thread is locked.