Flywheel energy storage

Okay kiddo, so you know when you play with your toy car and you make it go really fast by pushing it with your hands, right? Now, imagine a much bigger toy car that is really heavy and needs a lot of force to make it go fast.

That’s kind of what a flywheel is. It’s a big, heavy wheel that spins really fast. The faster it spins, the more energy it stores. So, when we need that energy later, we can slow down the flywheel and use that energy to power different things like machines, cars, or even cities.

Flywheel energy storage works kind of like a battery, but instead of making electricity from chemicals, it stores energy by spinning a wheel. It’s really useful because it can store a lot of energy, and it doesn’t need any toxic chemicals to do so. Plus, it can recharge a lot faster than a battery.

Picture a spinning top, the faster it spins, the more energy it has. Similarly, a flywheel can spin really, really fast to store a lot of energy and when we need that energy, we can slow down the flywheel and use that energy to power different things.

Flywheels can be used for lots of different things, but one example is in electric cars. Imagine you're driving an electric car and you need to speed up quickly to get onto the highway or pass someone on the road. So, the electric motor takes energy from the car’s battery to make the car go faster. But, if the battery is low, it can’t provide enough energy to make the car go really fast. That’s where the flywheel comes in. The electric motor can draw extra energy from the flywheel to make the car go faster when it needs to.

Overall, flywheel energy storage is like a big spinning wheel that stores energy and gives us a way to power things when we need them to. It can be really handy for storing energy and using it when we need it later!