"The City Cat runs on nothing but compressed air -- which can be refueled at "air stations," and overnight using a built-in compressor -- with a not too shabby top speed of 68MPH and a range of 125 miles. The Air Car designers are working on a hybrid version that can compress air while it's operating, potentially making cross-India journeys possible: Toyota Prius, eat your hybrid heart out." http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/27/indian-...production-run/ Not that I like this car but it's interesting concept. I heard of it three years ago but now it seems they are going into production soon. You can watch some videos here: http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/659/ and listen to running engine... I am sure you will not "eat your hybrid hearts out". - Piotr
This keeps coming up. Like many of the promised electric cars, it's something they say they're going to do "real soon now." But unlike electric cars, it's a questionable technology, that looks inefficient: Compressing the air generates a lot of waste heat, and compressors are very noisy. Do you want a noisy compressor running in your garage all night? Or would you rather have a completely silent electric charger? The air car certainly can work. But at this point, electric looks like the better choice. If they can build and sell this car, I say more power to them. But it smells like more vaporware to me.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May 28 2007, 05:38 PM) [snapback]451211[/snapback]</div> Everything you say is true. But there are a few advantages to using air (if this venture pans out). There are no batteries in the car that need to be disposed/recycled, and there are no batteries that will lose their effectivity after some time.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(San_Carlos_Jeff @ May 29 2007, 09:33 AM) [snapback]451477[/snapback]</div> I wish them luck. But I don't think it will ever come to pass. Reporters love to talk about highly speculative and risky ventures as though they were done deals, and were just a few days away. I want to see cars on the road, and independent verification of claims about speed, range, and time to re-charge.
I tried to order one on line to see if they are real. So far no repsonse and it's been about a week. I see India signed to start making these air cars over there. They need it with very poor air quality in the main city Mumbai. I worked there for 6 months.
I think this technology will be much cheaper the electric cars. This is why india is interested in it. If they can launch the car in US I would take a very close look at it. For me this cars fulfill my commute needs, and my wife could drive the (gas guzzling prius). Still, I would prefer a battery car, but almost anything that charges through an outlet is of interest.
I guess the question is, how efficient are the air compressors they'll be using...? Seems to me with all of the heat involved with compressing air, it's not a terribly efficient way of storing energy.
Hi All, Non-synergies of Air Cars: Compressed air gets hot. Between the time the air is compressed, and expanded, it cools significantly which is a loss of energy. The EPA lab partial solution to this was to have a grad student deposit foam pellets intot he air tanks. The idea being that the foam reduced the heat flow. Storage tanks are stronger when they are colder. So when they need to be the strongest, they are the weakest. Expanding air generates cryogenic temperatures near the valve/neck of the storage area. So, during maximum air usage, when you have maximum vibration, you have the most brittle material condition. There is no such thing as a long-lasting digiital valve, like a digital electronic switch. Therefore all flow regulation is analog with the consequent losses involved. Very much like electronic controls, where the switching devices transition through the high loss mid points quickly, and its the average of the on-off cycling that regulates flow. In an analog control, the partially open valve disipates flow energy. Failure of storage device occurs in miliseconds, and people move in seconds. Thus people can get caught in the flow of energy during a air-tank explosion. Batteries take a few seconds to overheat, begin to smell, then catch fire.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ May 30 2007, 02:32 PM) [snapback]452334[/snapback]</div> In the past I've read that the idea is that the motor is also the compressor, with an electric motor, run from grid power, to run the air motor backwards to compress the air. To add to what donee said above: In most places, air has a significant amount of water vapor. Thus during the expansion/cooling transition, when air is powering the car, ice can form at the valve. This could seriously affect the operation of the air motor, or even damage the mechanism.
