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So having cars run on air is going to solve our transportation problems in LA? The thing is that regardless of what our cars are running on, we'll still have clogged freeways.
Also if you take a look at the wiki on the Air Car, you'll see it's not as rosy of a picture this video is making it out to be. Too bad these TV programs don't do their homework. The biggest problem is the energy conversions involved. Wiki page here Across the states on a tank of gas??? I say show me your figures on this! You want to see a doable car that could possibly make it across the states on a tank of gas? Check out this one!
Just keep in mind that all energy (even human energy) has to come from somewhere. I heard the other day that half of the electricity in Los Angeles comes from burning coal. So unless you're charging your electric car with solar panels, you are in some sense driving a coal powered vehicle.
and also, Charles Martin Hall...the granddaddy of ALUMINIUM discovered an inexpensive method for the isolation of pure aluminium from its compounds. (i loved that last link rollers!!)
While compressing air requires power, it apparently uses a tiny fraction of the power required to move a vehicle 200km via internal combustion. They stated in the video that using a plug in compressor would take 4 hours and require no more than a couple dollars (australian dollars) of electricity. Running a gasoline powered compressor is also very affordable, in comparison.
I'll take a very fuel efficient and low emissions form of transport that is available today over a completely renewable and zero-emissions vehicle that won't be available for 15 years. At the very least, widespread use of such technology would remove much of the urgency to finding a solution and take much of the price pressure off other uses of fossil fuels. It is also much easier to trap carbon output and clean up exhaust at a single power plant than it is to clean the exhaust and trap the carbon output of millions of cars.
A hybrid that can go coast to coast on a single tank does seem a be a bit of a stretch. That's a 10x increase in fuel economy, and internal combustion engines are more than 10% efficient, so that seems unlikely. It may be possible to get a 4-5x increase in fuel economy though, so maybe the premise is based on a chassis and engine that could get 60mpg, which isn't far off the mark. Lots of small european diesel cars give up 60mpg or better. But they don't have 15 gallon tanks, either. Still LA to NYC on 2 tanks of gas in a small car would be pretty damn nice. I'd buy one.
Sam,
I actually saw a show, on TLC, I think, about the inventor from France. He explains on the show how he has his compressor wired into a solar panel system at his home.
Just think, if he were to buy carbon credits for both the manufacture of the solar panels and the car itself, it would probably be the most "green" car in development/production.
I heard the pollution from making cars and paving roads makes fuel efficiency a joke. Plus the real problem is traveling in a box at high speeds disconnected from our neighborhoods and neighbors.
I don't care what the thing runs on, it is still a car. I HATE DRIVING CARS.
SECOND:
What pressurizes the air? The air is acting as a battery. Why use an air battery to power a car, aren't other batteries better? Where does the energy come from that charges that battery?
I actually rode in and around the town/college of Oberlin, OH last September.
I had to wait a day to pick up a load outside of Akron, but I just finished delivering to Cincinatti.
I had my rig parked at the toll-plaza outside of town near the exit.
Quaint, little community there, and a nice Chinese restaurant to boot.
this technology is dead for powering a car. Sure the guy can make all kinds of claims, how bout it respones to some of the problems pointed out in the wiki page? One point made is,
" Using energy to compress air is less efficient than charging a battery with that same energy[8][9] - compressed-air car's overall efficiency is approximately one third of a comparable electric car.[10][11][12]"
Citations can be found here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_car#Disadvantages
@bentstrider---
cool! Oberlin is certainly quaint.....if a very strange juxtaposition with the Ohio countryside around it...
ah, sweet, sweet liberal arts college. ideals. intelligence. creativity.
i miss it sometimes....
@ubrayj02
the air pressure creates a vacuum which drives the pistons... kind of cool on a geeky science level. i'm just really glad that people figured this shit out already!! Glimmers of hope...glimmers of hope.
Barack Obama rides a hope powered tricycle with an air compression assist engine?
EH?!
and yeah, CARS BLOW. I gave my car away to charity last year and I'm feeling so free!
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