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| Posted: 28 May 2007 10:16 Last Edited By: Gas | |
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The world’s first commercial compressed air-powered vehicle is rolling towards the production line. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre, will be built by India’s largest automaker, Tata Motors. The Air Car uses compressed air to push its engine’s pistons. It is anticipated that approximately 6000 Air Cars will be cruising the streets of India by 2008. If the manufacturers have no surprises up their exhaust pipes the car will be practical and reasonably priced. The CityCat model will clock out at 68 mph with a driving range of 125 miles. Refueling is simple and will only take a few minutes. That is, if you live nearby a gas station with custom air compressor units. The cost of a fill up is approximately $2.00. If a driver doesn't have access to a compressor station, they will be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car’s built-in compressor to refill the tank in about 4 hours. The compressed air technology is basically just a way of storing electrical energy without the need for costly, heavy, and occasionally toxic batteries. So, in a sense, this is an electric car. It just doesn't have an electric motor. But don't let anyone tell you this is an "emissions free" vehicle. Sure, the only thing coming out of the tailpipe is air. But, chances are, fossil fuels were burned to create the electricity. In India, that mostly means coal. But the carbon emissions per mile of these things still far outdoes any gasoline car on the market. Unfortunately, the streets of North America may never see the Air Car, though; it's light-weight, glued-together fiberglass construction might not do so well in our crash tests. However, that does not mean the Air car is confined to the sub-continent. Nègre has signed deals to bring its design to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa. And this isn't the last we'll hear of the technology. The folks making the Air Car are already working on a hybrid version that would use an on-board, gasoline-powered compressor to refill the air tanks when they run low. Negre says that technology could easily squeeze a cross country trip out of one tank of gasoline. Source: http://www.ecogeek.org |
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| Posted: 04 Jun 2007 03:46 | |
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| I saw an article about this the other day. Wouldnt it be fantastic if they could make it of a sturdier material so that it might pass crash tests and still get the same results or at least similar? | |
| Posted: 04 Jun 2007 14:25 | |
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maybe if everyone drove an air car we wouldn't be scared to crash into each other!
Actually, that's another reason why we all can't drive motorcycles and tiny little cars like in the 70's - because if you hit a SUV, you're dead. |
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| Posted: 10 Jun 2007 11:14 Last Edited By: Gas | |
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| I find it an interesting alternative. But I think an electric car with an electric motor would be even better. If that car had an electric motor that worked with compressed air, that would be really good and amazing! Just a matter of time, I guess. | |
| Posted: 26 May 2008 10:53 | |
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| i MENTIONED THIS IN ANOTHER SECTION.I really like the sounds of this concept and the possibilities it offers.You mentioned the small gasoline engine to resupply the tanks but what about just using the air engine itself.What if there is a way to put a pump on the engine with a belt around its pully,same thing as a alternator but use a airpump instead.I live in Northern Michigan and the whole idea of electric worries me when it comes to rain and snow or both.I would also be interested in seeing this idea in a 4wd pickup or suv.I think it could be done,even if you lose half of it's range it's still a heck of a better deal then paying big oil. | |
| Posted: 12 Jun 2008 00:02 | |
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| The air car is powered by the same thing as the electric car which is electricity from the coal-powered grid. The one was to make this clean is to either be off the grind with wind or solar power or add more renewable energy to the grid. | |
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