A German designer cribbed from the slot cars we loved as kids to come with a cool idea for extending the range of electric cars. Instead of relying on an electric motor under the hood, Christian Förg suggests putting an electric motor under the road.

Förg's Speedway Transport System concept uses a network of linear electric motors to propel EVs along the highway. He sees us driving around in futuristic dual-mode EVs with small motors for city driving. When we're ready to leave town, a contact-free linear motor would propel the car over long distances with a drifting magnetic field. Förg says linear motors would work under our existing roadways, complementing – not replacing – existing automotive technology.

"This means that you can use the roads with normal cars and also at the same time for the Speedway system," he told Wired.com.

The dual-mode design increases the flexibility of the vehicle. For tooling around town, the car adopts a shorter, more upright stance to save space and improve visibility. Once you hit the highway – Förg calls it "speedway mode" – the car stretches out like a Lazy-Z-Boy to maximize aerodynamic efficiency and passenger comfort.

If Speedway is ever implemented, the Autobahn could become the top of a giant linear motor. Instead of spinning a rotor, linear motors create a linear force along a flat stator (the stationary part of the electric motor). In transporation, the linear motor's moving magnetic field will repel the opposing magnetic field of a conductor, thereby moving it along. We don't have advanced degrees in this stuff, so we like to think of it as a giant slot car track where the pin is replaced by a magnetic field.

Förg says the linear motor also can charge an electric car's battery so it's ready for urban travel. "Only highways for long range distances will need to be upgraded," he wrote on his website. "But even with this upgrade, the streets still can be used by conventional cars."

While the concept sounds far-fetched, linear motors have been around since the 1840s and the first practical models were demonstrated in Germany in 1935. Linear motors are used to propel Maglev trains and some urban transit systems. The AirTrain at New York's JFK Airport and the Vancouver SkyTrain are two well-known public transit systems that use linear motors from Bombardier, while Maglevs in Shanghai and Japan also use the technology.

Images and animation: Christian Förg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9isV-rX4YMo