{"id":83625,"date":"2011-05-09T04:51:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-09T01:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/blog\/technion-maglev\/"},"modified":"2011-05-09T04:51:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-09T01:51:00","slug":"technion-maglev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/technion-maglev\/","title":{"rendered":"Technion Maglev"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alert to future need: graduate student in civil engineering Erez Horev.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n \n<\/strong><\/div>\n Cars that use magnets to hover through the air could sound like science fiction, or the fantasy of children. But since the success of high-speed Maglev (Magnetic levitaton) trains in Japan, there is reason to dream. Having worked in Israel’s transport system, Technion student Erez Horev is determined to explore the science that could make Maglev transport part of Israel’s future – dramatically saving energy and reducing environmental damage.<\/strong><\/div>\n <\/div>\n Although he is a graduate student in civil engineering, Erez Horev heard of the competition at the Technion Autonomous Systems Program and seized the moment. For months in his spare time he had been working on his Maglev car, and although his supervisor saw it as “too futuristic” for a full-time research project, Horev (like his name-sake former Technion President and global leader in engineering Amos Horev), he doesn’t give up.<\/div>\n The first prize, won together with another project in which a toolbox follows it’s owner around, won the attention of Israel’s national media. The idea first came to Horev when he was working on Israel’s new fast pay-road Highway 6, and later on the new light rail project in Haifa. The car operates normally but has six magnets attached to underside. When it enters the magnetic highway, the system is activated.\u00a0“With this system, you could live in Italy and work n Germany and commute the whole distance in 50 minutes,” says Horev. “The car will go at 400 mph and the driver can go to sleep.”<\/div>\n In ordinary vehicles, 99% of the energy is used to overcome the friction between the wheels and the road. In the Maglev car, the friction is so minimal that it would lead to enormous savings in fuel. The system\u00a0\u00a0simulates a magnetic toll road for private vehicles. “Because of the high speeds that can reach them using this technology, the project could compete not only with existing toll roads, but even with domestic flights and trains,” says Horev.<\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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