Posted on 05/25/2009 2:52:04 PM PDT by The_Sword_of_Groo
NEW YORK (AP) - Most car companies are racing to bring electric vehicles to the market. But one startup is skipping the high-tech electronics, making cars whose energy source is pulled literally out of thin air.
Zero Pollution Motors is trying to bring a car to U.S. roads by early 2011 that's powered by a combination of compressed air and a small conventional engine.
ZPM Chief Executive Shiva Vencat said the ultimate goal is a price tag between $18,000 and $20,000, fuel economy equivalent to 100 miles per gallon and a tailpipe that emits nothing but air at low enough speeds.
Elsewhere in the world, the technology is already gaining speed. The French startup Motor Development International, which licensed the technology to ZPM, unveiled a new air-powered car at the Geneva Auto Show in March. Airlines KLM and Air France are starting to test the bubble-shaped AirPod this month for use as transportation around airports.
Engineering experts, however, are skeptical of the technology, saying it is clouded by the caveat that compressing air is notoriously energy intensive.
"Air compressors are one of the least efficient machines to convert electricity to work," said Harold Kung, professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University. "Why not use the electricity directly, as in electric cars? From an energy utilization point of view, the compressed (air) car does not make sense."
As Vencat spells it out, the "air cars" plug into a wall outlet, allowing an on-board compressor to pressurize the car's air tank to 4,500 pounds per square inch. It takes about four hours to get the tank to full pressure, then the air is then released gradually to power the car's pistons.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
lol....imagine a four-car pile up of these.
Obummer promised cars that ran on unicorn flatulence and Magic Skittles.
I wonder how much tax 0 would put on the fuel to run this car?
Is that a Corvette ?
No it’s a DeWalt !
Ah hell, the FReeper comedians are on fire today!
Which is a good thing, lemme tell ya.
God, when will the insanity end?
(Car commercial narrator) - “Introducing the all-new 2011 Congresscritter...”
organ donor car
GPS, one dollar per mile.
I wonder if this is more or less efficient that the car that runs on water? /s
So, where’s the gov’ts road tax $$ theft take place with these vehicles?
Just waitin on the comet...
Lot of gas in Washington. Compressed too.
LMAO !!!
I’ll ride a bicycle to work before I ride in that POS ....:o)
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