Maglev: The Cars of The Future or a Diverting Rabbit Hole?
In the 21st century, the automotive industry has been understandably fixated on developing a reliable and affordable electric vehicle. After all, if the aim is to create a car that provides a viable alternative to fossil fuels, then it needs to be something realistic.
What if the most exciting alternative to gasoline isn’t battery-stored electricity at all, but something far more futuristic, though? The concept of magnetic levitation (dubbed Maglev for short), isn’t an entirely new idea, but it could revolutionize the automotive industry.
What Is Magnetic Levitation?
As the name implies, Maglev simply utilizes the repulsion properties of magnets to facilitate levitation. The magnets are supercooled to make the propulsion capabilities far more powerful; this way, vehicles are able to maintain a stable distance above the ground and move at top speeds.
Currently, Maglev is used to power trains all across Asia, and the United States is looking into instituting a number of potential routes. With top speeds of 375 miles per hour, very little turbulence, and no need for a driver, it’s easy to see why Maglev trains are so popular. With this technology’s success in the locomotive industry, it’s little wonder that automakers have taken notice, too.
Could Maglev Produce The Flying Cars of The Future?
For decades, pop culture has promised that hover cars will one day populate the sky and make for more seamless travel. Being that Maglev is so simple yet efficient, it seems possible that this technology could be the answer to those assurances.
The potential benefits of Maglev cars aren’t difficult to spot. Traffic could decrease significantly thanks to faster movement, fewer accidents would occur as a result of greater control over vehicles, and fuel efficiency (plus environmental consciousness) is obviously a huge draw.
Is There Any Real Interest in Exploring Maglev Cars?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are some pretty major players who have expressed hopes of developing viable Maglev vehicles within the last decade. In conjunction with Unimodal, even NASA has expressed interest in researching Maglev applications, but no one has put more effort into this technology than Volkswagen.
The German automaker released a video concept for their Maglev car all the way back in 2012, perhaps in an attempt to drum up interest, or perhaps simply as a means of asserting themselves as forward-thinking innovators. In any case, the reality is that VW is working with a team at Stanford to develop a working prototype; the release date is unknown, but it’s clear that there are real resources being dedicated to the development of maglev cars.
What Does This Mean for The Future?
As exciting as the possibility of cars powered by magnets may be, at this point the technology is so new and untested that it remains rather financially unviable. However, once one automaker creates a prototype, it’s possible that the rest will follow suit, and a domino effect will take place.
It’s hard to tell if Maglev is the future of the auto industry, but it’s an interesting possibility to explore, and it certainly shouldn’t be counted as impossible.
