Watch: China tests magnet-powered 'floating' car that goes up to 230 km per hour

The magliv car 'floats' above the track. (Screengrab of video shared by @QinduoXu on Twitter)

Chinese researchers have recently performed road tests on a car fitted with magnets that floats 35 mm above a road laid with good conductors, allowing the car to levitate.

According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, the researchers outfitted eight sedans with powerful magnets on the vehicle floors and tested them over a 8-km rail. Of them, one car reached the speed of 230 km per hour.

A video tweeted by a Chinese journalist shows the cars levitating at times while travelling along the track.

A #maglev vehicle technology test saw a 2.8-tonne car float 35 millimeters above the road and run on a highway in #Jiangsu, east China. A permanent magnet array was installed for levitation. pic.twitter.com/7vWc8TvJpn

— QinduoXu (@QinduoXu) September 12, 2022

As per the Xinhua report, the tests were run by Chinese government transportation authorities to study safety measures for high-speed driving. But a university professor who developed the vehicles, told the news agency that using magnetic levitation for passenger vehicles has the potential to bring down energy use and increase the vehicles’ range.

“Our next step will be to focus on the development of the actual vehicle to realise the beautiful vision of seeing the first maglev car ‘floating up and running’,” Deng Zigang, a professor and team leader at the university, was quoted as saying by South China Morning Post. “This move will provide critical support for the development of maglev (magnetic levitation) cars in China.”

The country had in 2004 unveiled the world’s first commercial maglev line in Shanghai using German technology which offered services of up to 430 km per hour.