Is your car for 'sail'?

8:29am Friday 25th January 2008

First published January 25, 2008

WHO'D have thought it? A ship that's powered, not by massive engines... but by a big sail, which takes advantage of the wind's energy.

Sarcasm aside, did you see the story in the news this week about the MS Beluga Skysails, a cargo ship with a massive computer-controlled kite attached?

The kite harnesses the winds and helps pull it along, and is reckoned to cut fuel consumption on the vessel's epic voyages by as much as a fifth.

Painfully aware as most of us will be about the historically high petrol prices we're paying these days, this invention got me thinking... how about a car with a kite anchored to the roof?

Well why not? If you're driving in the right direction, could you not captured a bit of wind power to cut your fuel consumption?

OK, low bridges would be a problem. As would getting your kite tether tangled up with other cars during overtaking manoeuvres.

Oh, and the on-board computer needed to constantly tweak the kite's settings would probably burn as much energy as the system's supposed to save.

But these are just little teething problems. I'd be willing to give it a try.

It could, though have interesting implications for new road schemes.

Would you build them to follow the most direct route, or let the prevailing winds influence the planning?

And would cars take on a more nautical look, with portholes and a ship-style wheel?

Maybe a market in sail customisation would develop, with a range of designs.

I think I'd go for the traditional skull and crossbones on a black background to scare off tailgaters and other villains of the waves, er, roads.

And the best part?

Heavy traffic would take on a rather beautiful appearance, like when you see lots of colourful hot air balloons rising into the air together.

So even if you were held up a bit, at least you could get some good photos of the sail-tailbacks.

EDITOR'S CHOICE