no joke! car that runs on AIR!

[dieselstation]

http://www.theaircar.com/
http://www.4car.co.uk/jsp/main.jsp?lnk=211&id=4216
http://www.sunwaterco.com/aircar.html

It looks as if MDI's compressed-air engine will be one of the major discoveries of the new century. The inventor, Guy Nègre, has developed an engine capable of propelling a car up to 110 Km/h, that can cover a distance of 300 km with one tank refill and a cost of less than a cent per kilometre. Not only providing "Zero pollution" but also purifying the air.

It sounds impossible, but a car that runs on air has been presented in London this week. Developed by Guy Negre of French-based company Moteur Development International (MDI), this city runaround is fuelled by compressed air, as supplied from petrol stations to pump up your tyres. Negre claims that his car can reach a top speed of 68 mph and has a range of around 124 miles on a single 2-minute filling from a petrol station air pump, and that one can refuel the car via its own electric air compressor by plugging it into a mains socket for 3-4 hours.


wow.. air! what a great time to be alive.

 

[Scouzer]

Holy crap!!!!! I hope this isn't too expensive and a lot of development goes into it!


$11k a pop!!! :Q

 

[Zenmervolt]

A top speed of 68 mph huh? I have to wonder if the top speed stays the same throughout the range or if the car gets slower as you near the end of the range.

ZV

 

[Entity]

It'll be very interesting to see if these things go into production. It'd be great for a city car.

Rob

 

[BillGates]

Sweet, I can't wait to get a gigantic spoiler and exhaust can and be the first to have a 200mph "popcorner" even though the car is exactly the same as every other one on the street, heh.

 

[trmiv]

I guess the only problem is that giant "pfffffttttttttt" balloon deflating sound it makes as you drive around.

 

[dakata24]

one ugly car imo (of course not as fugly as the aztek), but great concept..

 

[Evadman]

I would buy one. no question.

 

[Vic]

Well, it wouldn't make a "phhhttt" sound, it would sound similar to a normal gas engine except quieter.

Tech specs say max 25 hp at 3,000 hp. Weight of 720kg (or 1584 lbs). Even though it's light, it would be very slow. Engine design is interesting.
My big concern is that this is not a true "Zero Emissions" vehicle. Just like with an electric car, it looks like one, but is not. I'll grant that this is cleaner than an electric car (no messy lead batteries) but just like an electric car, it does not produce any energy of itself but merely uses previously produced and stored energy (in this case, compressed air).
So my question is, how would the air be compressed?

 

[Evadman]

There is an onboard compressor. Or a heavy duty filling station designed for it. I have a compressor that is powered by a 5.5 hp honda engine that will put 235 psi in a 11 gallon tank in under a minute. Stepping it up to 4500psi is quite a jump however.

 

[BillGates]

Originally posted by: PSYWVic

So my question is, how would the air be compressed?

I think I remember seeing on one of those links that PETA members are being explored as one possible source, as they seem to be a breeding ground for large quantities of hot air.

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: PSYWVic
Well, it wouldn't make a "phhhttt" sound, it would sound similar to a normal gas engine except quieter.

Tech specs say max 25 hp at 3,000 hp. Weight of 720kg (or 1584 lbs). Even though it's light, it would be very slow. Engine design is interesting.
My big concern is that this is not a true "Zero Emissions" vehicle. Just like with an electric car, it looks like one, but is not. I'll grant that this is cleaner than an electric car (no messy lead batteries) but just like an electric car, it does not produce any energy of itself but merely uses previously produced and stored energy (in this case, compressed air).
So my question is, how would the air be compressed?

Each car comes with an onboard air compressor unit that plugs into a 110/220V outlet. The compressor puts out about 812 cubic feet of compressed air per hour. The onboard storage tanks hold about 3200 cubic feet of air @4500psi. This equates to a refill time of about 3.5 hours if using the onboard unit. A refill station, however, would use an industrial sized air compressor and could refill the tanks in about 3 minutes! The four hour refill time for the onboard compressor is comparable to the refill time for a natural gas vehicle using a FuelMaker compressor. The energy used to compress the air is about 19.25kWh. This is a fair amount of electrical energy and one of the factors under consideration in the downtown areas of Spain. However, consider that a hydrogen electrolysis/compressor unit takes about 60kWh to fill the same sized tanks with hydrogen (although a FuelMaker CNG compressor only uses 1.2kWh to fill a tank -- but it's not portable)! When one begins to consider the implications of using air as a fuel, it's immediately obvious the incredible advantages that compressed air offers. First of all there are absolutely no emissions! In fact, the air in the storage tanks is passed through a scrubbing carbon filter prior to injection. This means that the air coming out of the exhaust pipe is CLEANER than the air that went into the tanks! This makes the aircar a true ACE (Air Cleaning Engine). Secondly, the fuel (air) is completely non-flammable, non-toxic, and about as safe as any fuel could ever be. This means no need for fuel transport, no need for gas pipelines, no need for drilling or mining, and no expensive batteries to ever replace. Anywhere you go in this world, where there's electricity, you can refuel. When you consider that the air compressor can be run off of renewable energy, you can see that the entire energy/fuel cycle can be zero-emission!

Rob

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Evadman
There is an onboard compressor. Or a heavy duty filling station designed for it. I have a compressor that is powered by a 5.5 hp honda engine that will put 235 psi in a 11 gallon tank in under a minute. Stepping it up to 4500psi is quite a jump however.

So we're still using gas and an IC engine...

edit: just read Entity's post... very informative, but once again, I reiterate, where does the power originally come from?

 

[Justin218]

My god, could they have made it any uglier?

 

[prontospyder]

great innovation but that sheetmetal needs to be redesigned.

 

[Kenazo]

The point is that the electricity for recharging the car could be made from renewable resources or "clean" energy. Thus, hydro power, wind power, thermal, or even good ole nuclear power can be used. All of these energy sources (except for possibly nuclear) are simply not feasible to use in powering a mobile vehicle.

Also, even if "dirty" power is used, it would probably be produced outside of the dense metropolitan areas. At least the cities would be clean, although the problem of environmental damage is not actually solved.

 

[bigrash]

cool!! I'll take 3

 

[dullard]

My big concern is that this is not a true "Zero Emissions" vehicle.

All forms of transportation require energy. All forms of energy generation create some waste. Thus using any form of transportation will create waste (including walking, biking, skateboarding, etc.) So by that definition there will never be a "zero emission" vehicle.

However that is a silly definition. The "zero emissions" refers to the car itself creates no emissions when filled with air at a service station. Like electric cars, this moves the polution from the car (which spreads it all around the world) to a carefully controlled energy generation location. Yes the power plant or service station will create waste - but it is localized and easily handled unlike waste from the car. Thus most of the waste generated can be captured and cleaned or recycled - unlike the waste from a car with emissions.

So while there is still waste generated, the waste is much easier to clean and removed from locations where it would directly harm people.

 

[Wallydraigle]

There's no way it can take more energy to run an air compressor than it takes to find/drill/pump/transport/refine/transport oil to make gas. Seems like a really good idea to me.

 

[Evadman]

19.25kWh

Cool. So for under $2 I can fill the tanks.

 

[Paulson]

If it had it's own air compressor built in, it could essentially recharge itself as you're driving, providing that you'd never have to refill it...

Sounds like a nifty concept...

 

[ElFenix]

its a giant air hog!

you know those little air planes that run on compressed air to spin the prop at toys r us!



as for the zero emmisions thing, i'm betting that a power plant is cleaner per joule than even the best honda gas engines are. of course thats going to vary depending on the generator.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Justin218
My god, could they have made it any uglier?

Yes. It could look like an Aztek.

 

[DanFungus]

Originally posted by: dakata24
one ugly car imo (of course not as fugly as the aztek), but great concept..

 

[Zenmervolt]

Where does the power for all the ancillary items come from? Seems to me that it would take a crapload of batteries to run everything off of DC power. Remember, we have to run the A/C off of battery, the circulation fan off of battery, the heater is probably diesel or LP but it still needs the air circulation fan, the lights need electricity as do the guages. You're still going to need to recharge the batteries that run all the ancillary items. The IC engine's not going away any time soon. Fossil fuel's time is limited but the IC Engine will be burning alcohol or hydrogen long after we're done with fossil fuels.

ZV