I got one of those in a box Quake when I was a kid!
I had the idea that the braking turns a hydraulic pump that compresses the air and that the engine could do it if it needed to. They specified ‘city driving’ for the economy spec, so that makes some sense.
I would like to see how far the air tank could drive you if you started out fully charged. I can never get a feel how big of storage a hybrid has other than the Chevy Volt's 40 miles on electricity.
It's an interesting idea. With the air boost when accelerating you don't need as big of engine as you would otherwise, thus gain efficiency that way. Also it has regenerative braking so you at least retain some of your energy which would otherwise be lost as heat in the brake pads and rotors.
Sounds like a science fair project.
GM, Toyota, Honda, Ford would have offered one years ago, if it worked.
But it’s French!
Wasn’t it Renault that came out with a rear engine air cooled car?
I’m much more a fan of steam-powered cars, than of battery-powered cars.
We actually do have the technology to burn fuel more efficiently, with which to heat the car’s boiler(s).
How to get more gov’t dollars...
Pie in the sky solutions to energy, its been working great!
Just Drill Baby Drill!
I want to see it when Top Gear gets one of these.
Would also like to see how the compressor holds up after a few years. Water is a compressor’s internal parts greatest enemy.
You doubters are all a bunch of flat-earthers. The French have created the perfect automotive system. Their car relies on a stored energy system, where a giant hand pulls the car back slightly and then lets go. The car responds by shooting forward at great velocity.
The giant hand will be provided by former U.S. representative Anthony Weiner. When the seemingly normal-handed Mr. Weiner was asked how the giant-hand system would work, he replied, “perspective”.
Compressed air tank is a very nice little bomb if breached. Hope they protect it well. Otherwise this seems on the surface like a good idea.
(not sure if this is real, but)
the issue is not efficiency, it is cost.
for an electric battery car, gasoline costs
5 to 10 times as much as electricity, when measured
by energy delivered to the wheels.
if the scuba tank car is 50% efficient,
you still come out ahead.
Once again they lie, the car does not run on air, it runs on petroleum products.
And a residential Air compressor with fairly slow recovery draws almost 20 amps at 120 volts when it is pushing 120 psi. If I remember right then these cars run on several thousand PSI.
So once again these are simply coal fired cars.
Trying it here in the good ol USA.
http://www.wavetechengines.com/
I don’t expect to see them any time soon. I don’t have the calculations right now BUT...I would have to figure out the efficiency of an efficient diesel engine running straight to a drive train verses running a compressor to a tank, then to an air motor.
Compressed air does not store much potential. The volume to make it practical is going to be huge.
I like being proven wrong in engineering.
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