Spin it on a vertical axis and see how flat the thing would go around corners, hills might be a worry as would a banked curve.

For the coming season, Formula 1 cars can be fitted with a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) which will allow a 'push button to overtake' system. A lot of trials were done with flywheel systems but they had an irritating tendency to tear the car to pieces.

Pretty much all the teams are now going with battery systems. There's concern, though, that they haven't got the shutdown systems to isolate the HV battery sorted out properly.

Just another way to store energy - like a battery. Also, there is no such thing as a free lunch: you still have to expend energy to spin the thing up. I simply don't see where any significant savings are going to come into play beyond the weight savings.

Do kids still play with small gyroscopes, or has that too been
relegated to virtual space?

It is a revelation to hold a spinning gyro --aka, flywheel -- even if
its only 3 inches in diameter, and try to twist it in space. It really
fights back.

I guess it could be mounted in gimbals to somewhat isolate it from
external twisting forces, but it would still see linear accellerations in
three dimensional space. And there would be the problem of how to
get power in to and out of the thing.

To minimize the effects of gyroscopic forces on steering response I
wonder where the better mounting location would be; front, center
or rear of the car?

All-in-all an interesting concept... 64K rpms... far beyond child's play.

Very true. There is also the hydraulic hybrid (both parallel and series).

Clean Automotive Technology | Modeling, Testing, and Research | US EPA
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hydraulic-hybrid2.htm

I suspect those figures were obtained using NiMH batteries which are only about 66% efficient during charging. Lithium batteries are well over 90% efficient which should reduce the charging efficiency significantly.

One thing not mentioned - how long will the flywheel stay spinning, or how much capacity does it lose per day? For reference, NiMH batteries typically lose about 30% capacity a month (though the new low self-discharge batteries are significantly better - I don't think they're using these in cars, yet) and Lithium batteries about 10% a month.

Flywheel systems are starting to phase out large industrial UPS's, due to their many advantages. For example, their efficiency is light years better than a line-interactive or especially online UPS. No issues with battery maintenance and replacement.

Overall I'm highly impressed with industrial flywheel UPS's

Impressive concept! But, yes - gyroscopic inertia is a huge problem. So is friction. The transfer of rotational power from the flywheel to the wheels is not quite clear to me ... is it mechanically- or magnetically-coupled? They mention gears, which is mechanical, but I still can't fathom how they handle the bearing friction at such high RPM.

There was a team making serious research progress with flywheel energy storage for cars about a dozen years ago, but have seemed to fallen off the face of the earth. U.S. Flywheel Systems.
Reinventing the Wheel | Gadgets | DISCOVER Magazine

Their flywheels were sealed in a vacuum chamber with levitated bearings for zero friction. Since the flywheels were sealed and decoupled from the drivetrain, the energy transfer required a conversion process using electric motor/generator technology and some sort of magnetic or inductive coupling through the casing.

Flywheels are perfect for stationary UPS systems, but may not be the best choice for automobiles due to the gyroscopic and frictional forces.

I think the research and progress being made with "supercapacitors" holds more promise to replace batteries.

This is interesting. Years ago we used to use rotary converters for power conditioning. The flywheel effect of these converters provided a short bit of backup when the line dropped.

Tom

Yep, the rotational mass worked well for basic power conditioning. I have project experience with the Caterpillar large flywheel packaged backup solutions.

I'm sure you'll agree that especially for +1 MW installations, it's insane to have more than 15 secs of backup, *especially* battery backup. A properly sized flywheel will offer load support for 15-60 secs, enough time for the backup generator to start and stabilize

I just came across this interesting video of a young inventor from the Cooper Union in NY who is experimenting with flywheel technology on a bicycle in order to learn more about applying the technology to cars.

Scifri Videos: Boost Your Bike

Just hope he's bolted that flywheel down nicely - you don't want that coming loose at 30k rpm and hitting you right between the legs!

Porsche's hybrid flywheel race car.
Porsche Racing Tech - Porsche 911's GT3R Hybrid Flywheel - Popular Mechanics