Your kids are so lucky to have a dad like you! That must be so much fun!

@danjeln

5 ай бұрын

I think he is lucky to have those kids as well. My kids are not interested in these kind of experiments at all. Anyways it is good to do fun things together as a family

@8:00 “Hope is not a strategy” - L O L. so true

My gut is that you're right and that further disrupting already turbulent air will show a net gain. But then again fluid dynamics is complicated and changing the flow of that air may have other, more complex effects on efficiency that are hard to predict. Either way I know that my maths isn't good enough to work it out, so I look forward to seeing the results!

@FlesHBoX

5 ай бұрын

Modern vehicle design tries to produce as little turbulence as possible, since turbulence results in higher drag, so my main thinking is that the fan, which creates turbulent air, is going to "undo" the aerodynamic design of the front end of the vehicle to some extent. This will be less impactful at slower speed, but at highway speeds aero drag becomes a much bigger component of efficiency, so I think it will come down to just how effectively the power generation can make up for it. The power required by the alternator is a small enough margin, that it could result in some gains at slower speeds, and some losses at higher speeds.

@ranga2050

5 ай бұрын

My feeling is that the power recovered will be inversely proportional to the drag coefficient of the vehicle. The higher the drag, the less power recovered. But that the additional fuel consumption will be directly proportional to the power recovered give or take efficiency. (would definitely prefer a brushless generator with bridge rectifiers) which may not may not offset the alternator load.

@1islam1

5 ай бұрын

​@@FlesHBoX⚠️ God has said in the Quran: 🔵 { O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous - ( 2:21 ) 🔴 [He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him]. ( 2:22 ) 🔵 And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful. ( 2:23 ) 🔴 But if you do not - and you will never be able to - then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.( 2:24 ) 🔵 And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a provision of fruit therefrom, they will say, "This is what we were provided with before." And it is given to them in likeness. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally. ( 2:25 ) ⚠️ Quran

@deanonesense

3 ай бұрын

​@@FlesHBoXyeah. Drag on a vehicle is usually more laminar at the front and becomes progressively more turbulent as you get to the back. Which is part of why I think placing a turbine (probably a VAWT turned so it's axis of rotation is parallel to that of the rear wheels) where you'd place a spoiler would be best

@TheSimoc

12 күн бұрын

I'm not an expert in aerodynamics, but AFAIK essentially the airflow generally "finds its way of least resistance" in order to "dodge out of way of the displacing car". Therefore, trying to "steal" the power from the way of that flowing air can only and merely increase its resistance (or worse yet disturb that path even more, making even more resistive path), equalling into increased drag on the car (as car needs to work harder to displace the air through more resistive/convoluted path). A more sensible idea might be to alter the pattern of airflow into more efficient in first place, using passive means (spoilers). On the other hand, wind turbines might have some use, if you could leave the airflow by the movement of the vehicle (mostly) untouched and instead utilize the natural wind. IIRC there do exist some kind of "turbine sailboats" working that way. For such setup, the best place might be on a tall enough wind tower on the roof. It could theoretically be simple and less or more usable if the wind turbine was the only power source, like in those experimental turbine sailboats. But due to its low efficiency, it might be impossible to sensibly combine it with any other power source, as it will also cause kinda threefold added drag against the power put on the motion by the other source than it provides, and it might be technically difficult to make it "ignore" the driving-induced airflow, which is usually the larger portion of the overall in case of road vehicle.

ME engineer here. Great work, indeed you are not increasing drag due to frontal area but you increase it due to a higher coefficient of drag, which is a linear increment, and because you are placing the turbine at the area where air is usually stagnated it really should not make much worse airdynamics. Your work is truly great, if you are able to recup 15% of lost energy that is going from 20 mpg to 23 mpg out of thin air. You may want to add deltas at the wing tips. You may be losing a portion of torque due to induced drag due to the AR of the blades. Great work, keep encouraging your children, it's awesome

@miepmaster25

5 ай бұрын

But like, don't they have alternators for this?

@GT_177

4 ай бұрын

​@@miepmaster25yes but the alternator costs fuel to run. The more electrical power you demand from it the greater the load it places on the engine.

I spent 15 years with the same haircut your son has... but I spent 0 years with a dad as rad as you. Keep doin what you're doin.

I love to see this man just exploding from the amount of pride his son gives him

I LOVE content like this. So many people assume they have all the answers figured out, but I love it when people actually put it to the test, and seeing your son get all into it all with you really makes me happy.

I don't even care about the tech, as a recent dad seeing you doing this with your kids brings a tear of joy to me eyes. I can only hope my kids grow up as excited to learn as yours. Congratz on your beautiful family @quint

This is such an exciting project and I'm so jealous that your kids are involved and surpassing you. Just cannot wait for your next video

I just want to say you're an awesome dad. I wish I had a father like you.

This video is so dense with cool info. Great content!

Well done, I'm inspired.

I love this channel and seeing your children get involved and learn has been the icing on the cake and every father's dream. That said, I suddenly see how your son's grown up, so it suggest you're not releasing nearly enough videos. Please remedy the issue. All the best

I'm super excited about this project! Best of luck.

You guys are brilliant!

I love how your son has taken off with his coding and electrical knowledge. I can see him becoming an engineer like his dad.

Lookin forward to next part

This is your best content. genuinely good to see your rational.

Well done!

Love this channel already. Subbed

Not sure if it's been mentioned but I'd like to see a lot more support structure for the long round bar. That thing is bouncing up and down pretty bad.

Instead of a electronic pitch control for the blades, maybe what you need is a Constant Speed Propeller system, that is used in small aircrafts. The difference will be just that your propellers are set to react to the wind, not try to use it to create thrust. The drive uses counter-weights to keep the propellers at a constant speed.

it is so weird seeing you drive around on roads that i know from when i lived in the area (still do, just a little farther away), and as a freshly graduated mechanical engineer, seeing these projects is just so much fun.

Excellent, I love it more and more. 👍

Suggestion🗣❗️; I think you should explore different forms of wind turbines. One wind turbine I have in mind is the "Flying Clothesline" design because it can cover the entire frontal area of the car. Airloom modernized the design so take a look at theirs as well. Best of luck to your scientific journey🎉❤

I never knew about the battery thing! 😮 That is amazing! Loved this video thank you so much 👏

Great project. It will increase the mileage surely.

Nice video, thank you for sharing greetings from Mexico 👍👍👍👍

Severely underrated channel my friend

On a different note Man you are making some great memories for your kids and you together

I'm glad to see you continuing to make videos😊. I hope you joy this idea for a relativly easy diy cheapest plugin hybrid. 1) Disconnect the car's electrical system from the alternator and battery. 2) Then run the car's electrical needs from 4 deep cycle batteries. And 3) use a battery charger to recharge them at home or on the road. That's the basic idea. 4) optionally: If one wants long range, then add battery capacity or plan to switch the alternator back when needed. Next level cheapest pluhin hybrid to replace the alternator with a 1kw motor. And use that to provide up to 1kw of mechanical power via the alternator belt. At this stage one probably wants to switch to Lithium based batteries for its energy density and longevity over lead acid. On difference between fan on top versus in front. By far this isn't a complete description of the difference but I hope it helps. 1st in front, the fan generator under load creates a high pressure pocket in front of the blades and low pressure pocket behind it. This pushes some of the air around the car creating an aerodynamic slip stream as the car drives in the wake behind the fan. obviously the benifits are canceled in large part by the electrical load on the turbine and the turbine being pushed by the car. If the car were not pushing the turbine, riding in the wake would be similar to practice of race cars traveling in the wake of a cars infront if it. Once when I had virtually no money for fuel and needed to go several hundred miles, I drove uncomfotably close behind tractor trailers using their wake and using the slip stream effect to improve my fuel econony. Maybe the tresulting turbulence down wind from the blades effects the car's aerodynamics. But the turbine's exhaust is slower moving and might not have as much drag on the car. Secondly, the air passing the turbin placed on top is slightly boosted by air speeding up as it goes over the top car. It might be easyer to generate power in faster wind, but there's no chance it could reduce drag on the car as there might be if placed in front.

You are a modern day mad scientist my friend.

Hahahah, "Hope is not strategy". Sir, i love this saying. Thank you.

Wind Power on a Car #7 We are looking forward

What an awesome dad you are.

It is so cool you work with your son on these projects.

My theory is that the additional drag caused by the fans at the front will offset any gains by powering the car from the fans rather than the alternator.

Love it! Maybe something like the Archimedes spiral/screw turbine blade might better capture the wind given the variability due to the cars aerodynamics...

To make it more streamlined, try enclosing the fan or multiple fans in a tube, simular to a jet fuselage & making the tube or multiple tubes along the car body

“Hope isn’t a strategy” thats a great quote

I want to thank KZread SSSOOOOOO MUUUCH for not notifying me about this upload. Great video.

So glad you're still doing your thing 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻 More rain gutter hydro- I'm sure you can make it viable

The car already uses the air in front of the car to cool the motor. So by that same principle, I feel a turbine in front should work (unless somehow it blocks the cooling of the engine and reduces its efficiency). Great video !

You should look at air plane generators, Every aircraft has a generator which is basically a squirl cage fan and gen built right into the aircraft. A friend took one out of a Cessnas gen and installed it on his truck. It actually worked brilliantly. He use to use it to charge batteries for his motorhome.

Very Cool !!

Great video.

Let me give my two cents on the issue of the turbine on the roof vs the turbine on in front. At the end of the day, what matters is the drag on the car; that is what the motor is resisting. I think your van very clearly increases the drag of the car. It is just very much less tear drop aerodynamic with a spinning turbine in front. When it comes to aerodynamics, you want laminar flow, not turbulent flow. My worry is that not only does the turbine itself cause drag, but that the turbine also causes there to be less laminar flow over the body of the car. As someone who is a cyclist and knows the pain of being in the wind versus the relief of being in aerodynamic, my guess is that you end up costing more in drag from a loss of aerodynamics than you gain from the generator. The turbine on top is probably worse, for the reasons you give. The cross sectional area is just much larger. However, you do save the aerodynamic flow around the body of the car, but my guess is that the extra cross sectional area dominates there. Overall, turbine in the front is probably better than turbine on top, but no turbine is probably better than turbine in the front.

@aaronmillar8777

4 ай бұрын

Yep, the turbine itself just freewheeling would add drag and mass to the car. Adding the draw from the generator will increase increase drag even more. No matter what, that energy is coming from the motor, all that has been added to the system is more drag, more mass, and the inefficiency of the generator converting kinetic energy to electricity. It's all waste energy. Even if the fan *somehow* made the system more aerodynamic, why attach the generator to it? The generator is just going to lose energy compared to the alternator taking the energy directly off the drive train.

this is the good stuff

The turbine in front is where the air will be displaced anyway meaning it can’t be worse. If you put it on top of the car it will have a similar effect to what happens on a sail boat. It will catch air that is not doing work(as he mentioned) therefore increasing the amount of energy required by the car to keep moving. I look forward to the next video on this topic.

“Hope is not a strategy”😂 wise words

I have been waiting for this! You are always going to have some form of drag coefficient pushing a vehicle through air. I’m not a scientist by any stretch but I have always thought you could exploit the need to displace air by recovering it with turbines without increasing the overall drag on the vehicle. Resulting in a return in energy, not a gain and increasing overall efficiency. Super excited to see results!

@mr.makeit4037

5 ай бұрын

We are all amateur scientists. If we think, reason, investigate and test our theories, then we fall within this category.

Your research would really benefit by making a version of the 'Flo state wind turbine'. The negative pressure zones produced by such a system at highway speeds would produce amazing levels of energy at little cost. I had planned on using an old toyota truck as a dual setup test bed project but life happens. A smaller turbine in front and larger one at the back of the truck bed could more than double the output. Good Journeys

I love going down rabbit holes other people have never tried, you learn a lot even if it doesn't work out. I pulled the 3.1L V-6 out of my Cavalier while leaving the transaxle in, people said it couldn't be done. I even did it without an engine lift! Going back in, I put the clutch/ pressure plate on the input shaft of the transaxle before lowering the engine in. Once the engine was in and bellhousing bolts were installed/ torqued, I attached the pressure plate to the flywheel one bolt at a time through the starter opening as I rotated the engine 60° at a time. Then one more revolution to torque them. The best part was no clutch alignment tool was required, the actual input shaft did the job. Anyway, Newton's 1st law says you're not going to see any gains. In reality, you might see a small gain if your new charging system has much better efficiency... or you might see some loss. The torque required to turn the blades is countered by more "push" from the car which required more HP at the wheels. If your charging system efficiencies are the same, you'll see a decrease in MPG. Instead of the HP going directly to the alternator, your wind turbine will make the HP go through the powertrain which has inefficiencies in itself. While you're pushing the same air out of the way, the car now has to overcome the force (torque) required to rotate the turbine... see what Sir Isaac Newton says about a body at rest with a force acting on it. The force on the "body" (the wind turbine/ generator is at rest relative to the car) from the torque of the generator is opposed by an equal but opposite force from the car. You may see further losses due to disrupting the laminar air flow over the car. Thermodynamics/ entropy wins again... sorry. But I'm jealous that I didn't get to go down that rabbit hole with you. You're very fortunate to have those tools/ equipment and your children are very lucky to have you as a dad.

I know you don't post that often, but it's always a joy when you do :) (...and tell your kids they are very lucky having a geek-dad!)

This is awesome and great to see thanks. I agree if it doesn't go beyond the size of the face of the vehicle it should help re-direct or break the air friction, making it more efficient. I thought a couple of things like maybe use a carpet blower fan or a squirrel cage of some sort like a waterwheel aspect. It might be better and for sure safer. and if you use a alternator as the generator in the floor blower. it should be get some rpm. Another thought was to use a boat propeller on the hitch and grab it that way. I don't have your means though. Anyway keep having fun it is fun to watch you guys

So why not put the generators in the bed of a pick up truck towards the front? I remember an episode oh Mythbusters showing how the air swirls in your bed while the tail gate is up. Seems like that would be an ideal place for turbines without any extra drag on the vehicle. (obviously pickup only)

I think a turbine would be effective in place of something like a spoiler or vertex generator - which garner some additional fluid friction for a greater saving in drag that comes from creating turbulent flow where the 'stream' of air leaves the vehicle. in this case, the goal is to create turbulent flow in itself, and while a turbine might not be as effective at this as something like a vortex generator, I think the recovered energy would be a net positive. Most probably best with multiple smaller props and higher rpm to minimise drag and maximise proper turbulent flow.

You made something similar to the APU (auxillary power unit) on big airplanes. Normally the APU is stored inside the plane, but when a large airplane loses its electric power during flight, they can deploy the APU and it generates electricity from the airflow. The fact that airplanes use the APU only in an emergency proves that it isn't an efficient way to provide power. The APU increases drag on the plane and slows it down.

Here's that answer you requested: First, my background -- I'm 75 and have built wind turbines for about 55 years. Okay, the answer: A wind-tunnel simulation would clearly show the area in front of your vehicle COMPRESSES the airflow. A better turbine application (IMHO) would be to use a VAWT mounted horizontally either lower (if room allows) or higher at a point tangent to the radius of your car's hood. In either location. doing this places your wings directly WITHIN the airflow. Sidenote: I build small compressed-air operated engines as well as (mostly) VAWT wind turbines and all my windmills compress air whenever the wind blows in North Texas (24/7). If I decide to build the contraption, I'm describing here, I'll post a "build" video on my own KZread chanel.

I'm not a mechanical engineer, but from my electrical engineer perspective I can see two things: first, supposing there's no wind, the total power available is going to be equal to the force punching the turbine forwards times the distance it displaces per second, and the force is provided by the car. On the other hand, your argument says that wind speed will decrease as it passes through the turbine. Assuming 100% efficiency for the turbine, the air is going to be at rest after the turbine passes. So assuming 100% efficiency for the whole system there would be no difference with or without the turbine, right?, but staring from Betz's limit we can be pretty sure that's not going to happen. Greetings from Colombia. Your channel is great!

If anyone didn't already know, the alternator doesn't just power everything while the engine is running, it also charges the battery.

I have (had) a van with a bull bar, one would think this is a non aerodynamic accessory on every car but when laws in Spain forbid me to have it on the car and I removed it. Nothing else changed but since removal, my van is using 0.8 liter/100km more then before, same car, same tyres, same drive style, this bull bar saved me 100's of liters of fuel while making my van look nice(r) and protecting it against small scuffs.

What are your thoughts on vertical axis wind turbines, they seem to be able to handle high rpm (albeit not as efficient as horizontal axis ones) + you won't have to be careful about the pitch of blades if you ever drive with cars around you.

i love the shirts of Grant XD. i tried to read every of his shirts (and also hers "i am Dragon") love thise kind of shirts

Nice concept, here is two cents. The first issue addressed in aerodynamics is Frontal Area, a top mount will increase this area. While mounting props in front doesn't increase the area, it does make the prop less efficient due to back pressure, created by the car's nose. Beware of an uneven loads, due to such uneven pressures. Consider using a scroll or helix to drive the generator. Aligned in the vertical axis, has the potential of 'splitting the air', in a similar way water repellents are used in modern underwater bullets. Harvesting air flow from the rear deck lid (spoiler) has a potential to increase stability, and use the partial pressure created at the rear. Not an electrician, but disconnecting the battery can damage the alternator charging circuit. Which questions using super capacitors, due to low resistance (great for delivering starting amps). Good to see you recognize electricity generation is only 50% efficient, something the greeny idealist don't want known.

This also can be used in a small unit in the front of an electric EV auto This will run a charging port to keep the EV so you can drive farther Being an engineer my self has talked to a few EV retailers but all said it will not work and understand bearable to look at I told them all this can be put under the front compartment that is used for almost nothing I love this this is a fabulous idea

I think the project is very interesting and I would like to see how it turns out. I agree with the comments that there are many challenges to overcome, but I think it is possible to make it work. I would focus on the following aspects: * The efficiency of the turbine: The turbine should be able to generate as much power as possible with minimal drag. * The reliability of the system: The system should be able to operate reliably in a variety of conditions, including high winds and rain. * The cost of the system: The cost of the system should be low enough to make it commercially viable. I think that if these challenges can be overcome, then wind power on vehicles could be a viable alternative to traditional engines.

I seem to see a bit of wobble on the mount as well as the car itself, so I'm thinking the wind turbine is creating a sort of vibration that also creates more wind buffering for the car, but I am no engineer and don't know all the equations

The whole idea of unhooking the battery while the car is running is a good way to test if your alternator is working I've done it a few times if you unplug the battery and the car suddenly stops the alternator isn't working but if the car continues running the alternator is fine

Check the turbine in the rear of the car in the low pressure backwash that is less turbulent and more streamlined also using the vacuum that the whole car creates running through the air Also a ducted fan or impeller might be more efficient as it could utilize vacuum

Great video, may i ask, why not make a ram air?

this is what I thought of... make a cowling for 2 smaller props and mount it on the top of ur car. next u need to design and build a venturi effect tube to mount them both in. it needs to be adjustable and maybe the prop pitch also. the air pressure drops a little while coming over the windshield, but air flow increases. this design also would make your device better acceptable to the NHTSA. HAPPY MOTORING!

Not sure if this has been commented but if the turbine is on top, you're creating more drag because you're creating more wind resistance because of the total capacity breaking through the wind, not just the height of the car, then an additional two or three feet above the car, thus creating more drag. For the front of the car, could you get better wind turbine response if your wind turbine was set up similar to that of a jet engine? Just create a tunnel for the turbine to function in and in theory. Create more energy

It will work. I've wanted to test this but incorporated more into the air streams! Look at the Mexican company that did this a number of years ago and then combine it with being able to make changes in aero dynamics to improve further.

Nice work. I am picturing a laterally mounted cylindrical turbine, positoned to catch the bow wave just as it starts to crest the hood. I wonder if there is anyting to be gained in a design like that?

This was done about 55 years ago in NASCAR. Just about the most famous chief mechanic was Smokey Yunick. He mounted an alternator to the front of the radiator with a propellor on it. This was all behind the grille. Since the cars go between 120 and 200mph (200-300km/h) there was plenty of wind to spin the alternator. Then, he removed the alternator from the engine. Since the whole thing wasn't in front of the car, it had no effect on the aerodynamics of the body. It provided enough power to charge the battery and run the ignition system and gauges. His efforts were not applauded. As soon as the tech inspectors saw it, they immediately created a rule that banned it.

@QuintBUILDs

4 ай бұрын

Thx, I've got his book with pictures of the original.

TY for the video Using the turbines to generate the electricity for the vehicle will improve fuel efficiency, with respect to joules of fuel to watts of power. The consideration that, I think, will make a difference is how the aerodynamics of the vehicle are impacted. If the aerodynamic load increases, then there will be losses. But the overall effect will have to be considered to see if it's a net loss, or gain, or maybe just a break even.

Great video have you tried to get a electric car and add solar panels along with wind generator independent from have to plugging it in to get charged

I showed this to a vehicle engineer friend of mine, and he said this is a field that had been heavily researched and abandoned due to their being no way around the net loss. Might want to look into the academic research.

@QuintBUILDs

4 ай бұрын

If he can point me to where it's published I'd love to see it.

15:43 - The turbine on the top of the car increases the surface area of the car into the wind. The turbine in front hits the wind then that same air hits the rest of the car.

will matter if you take the alt out but with the belt still attached the drag remains, if you have a belt briven fan changing to electric save gas and makes more power. It is all about the load of the belt.

Depends on the vehicle because some vehicles cut off without batteries. I can a van that would die when battery became loose because alternator was controlled with feedback from ecu

Put the two fans in the front connected to the frame but in front of the wheel that way the air going to the sides can be vented into a duct with the turbines inside. Kinda wind tunnel the air into the turbines.

The reason the propeller on the roof doesn't work where as the propeller on the front appears to work maybe, is that the air you need to push the turbine through you have to displaces with the vehicle anyway so it's kind of wasted energy recapture in that sense. In saying that you are introducing turbulence across the vehicle which may increase drag to the point that it stops making it worth it. Really interesting project! My gut reaction was to dismiss it immediately but what you're saying does make sense. More testing required!

It will work. It is also possible to power something straight into the wind using only wind power. If done right and the aerodynamics of the car aren't to affected by the generators in front of it, it should be possible to increase fuel efficiency.

The air stream cooling the engine will be less powerful, so you should monitor the temperature of the coolant.

thinking about it i think you are right. its similar to how the mythbusters proved following an 18 wheeler increases gas milage. the air hitting the car has a smaller speed differential because you've already removed some in the turbine. so instead of removing energy with the car body you are doing it with a turbine in front.

You should look into "The Fan Showdown". You may be able to improve the fan blades and get better efficiency.

Ive been curious about a horizontal drum like a wide squirrel cage on the rear edge of a trunk lid , the laminar flow over the top and low pressure on the bottom would spin like crazy.

could you use a horizontal drum turbine instead of propellers? maybe mount is just under your hood with a cut out for it?

8% mpg improvement, even more if you make good use of the generated power, You coooouuuuld also run a clutched pully on the enginebelt too... or a BAS system off belt. I do energy efficiency as a hobby, I know of 2 older vehicle that have done what youre doing. The one with pictures used a drum / squirrel cage fan molded right into the hood.

Single pointing those threads earned you a sub from me buddy😉🤜🏽💥🤛🏽

I'm a pretty good guesstimator. With that being said, I feel like the wind turbines will disturb the airflow and prebuffet it before it hits the car helping your wind resistance a bit while collecting the wind energy so I feel like you'll save 20-25% on your gas mileage.

the way you left the sneeze in around 9 minute mark made me think i was watching an anime lmao

Adding a 3rd support leg above coming from the hood might permit more stability and raising the fan. On hot days, this fan may reduce efficiency of the radiators at the front of the car.

You're awesome. Thanks so much for making and sharing all the stuff you do.

Would it not be a better use of the energy captured to have a battery bank and a small electric motor providing power to one or more wheels to drive the vehicle without the full use of the engine, basically a hybrid but using wind power to charge the the system.

I agree the hypothesis is sound. I still think a bullet nose would bring a bigger saving. (Ups sorry, that comment is in the troll category). Rule of thumb says the average car has 20% of its drag from the grille and grille hood transition. That translates to 10-15% fuel savings eliminating that entirely. Still a worthwhile project. Also, by having props leaving fast turbulent air in front of the unmodified car, there is a chance that might be an aerodynamic drag reduction from that alone, avoiding the risk of larger vortex bubbles at the grille/hood and windshield/roof transitions.

A while back I read about a minivan being built that had a horizontally positioned fan on the roof to catch wind to charge batteries. It looked like a giant turbo

I had a battery fail in my car one time as i drove it. I realised that the engine would stall if I used the foot brakes, I attributed it to the current draw from the brake lights being too much and a battery was needed to even out the current demand like a capacitor. I limped my car home using the hand brake instead. If I recall correctly, the headlights (maybe full beam) would stall the car too. I replaced the battery and it ran like usual, even with two sub woofers in the trunk 😁