Pierce the compressed air reservoir, and the car flies around like an open balloon. Thhhhhplplplplplpl
There is lots of hot air generated in Ottawa and Washington. If science could capture some of this hot air, there would be a great reduction in the need for fossil fuels.
stupid idea! compressed air as an energy storage mechanism is extremely inefficient.
A French car that sucks. Quelle surprise!
No, I am not kidding. He would if he could.
Been tried many many times. Ends up needing lots of power to compress the cylinder. Cylinder needs periodic inspections.
Scuba divers know more than French auto designers.
I suspect the compressed nitrogen hybrids already in service have less maintenance than compressed air. Someone is just trying to trade efficiency to avoid paying a patent fee.
Not this again...
They have been telling us we will soon see a compressed air car for at least twenty years.
Variations of this company have been pushing this idea forever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Development_International
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/988265.stm
The system works by using a normal internal combustion engine, special hydraulics and an adapted gearbox along with compressed air cylinders that store and release energy. This enables it to run on petrol or air, or a combination of the two. Air power would be used solely for city use, automatically activated below 43mph and available for ‘60 to 80 per cent of the time in city driving’.
City driving, ping!
As long as it doesn’t burst into flames in the garage when you on vacation. That would be an improvement.
Will work great in DC....................
Fill it up with helium and you can float over traffic jams.
Interesting idea, hope it works out. Better than buying Chinese manufactured batteries.
So what does it do outside city limits?
I always knew the government would find a way to tax air.
You know they will find a way!
This has been around for decades. The designer is a former F1 engineer.
A little less talking, a little more action.
Personally I don’t see it.
Peugeot has revealed plans to begin selling the first air powered car next year.
Obama Motors beat them to it.
I remember seeing a story a couple of years back about a speed bump that was installed to that charged a battery when a car drove over it. I thought that was an interesting concept if a driver had to slow down for a stop sign.
There will always be loss of energy in the form of heat that cannot be captured. It takes energy to compress the gas, but in compression heat will be generated and lost. In releasing the compressed gas to I presume to operate some type of turbine there will also be energy lost do to heat. I fail to see how this could be very efficient particularly with the high pressures needed to give any serious locomotion. I remember an episode of Myth Busters where they tried to propel a boat using compressed air jets and found it didn’t work.
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but can be converted. All processes of conversion involve a loss of some kind.
That law of Physics can not be undone by legislative or presidential fiat.
So, we need to know where the energy comes from to compress the air. Obviously not from air, as the headline implies.
What is the cost of the energy? What percentage makes it to the wheels of the car? How much leaks? What is the cost of government subsidies?
