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Company looks to bring air-powered cars to US
Breitbart.com ^ | May 25 01:20 PM US/Eastern | DAN STRUMPF

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 ...


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KEYWORDS: auto; bailout; uaw
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To: wastedyears
1982 XL250R

Move it on over buddy! ; )

41 posted on 05/25/2009 3:30:18 PM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: GeronL

I think first sentence in post #26 pretty much says it all. However, how much you wanna bet at least one of us will be stuck next to some a-hole driving one of these rolling speed bumps getting a heated lecture from some tree hugging moron who gets increasingly frustrated when we just aren’t “nuanced” enough to understand the benefits?


42 posted on 05/25/2009 3:30:44 PM PDT by The_Sword_of_Groo (Dum spiramus tuebimur - "While We Have Breath, We Will Defend")
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To: The_Sword_of_Groo
making cars whose energy source is pulled literally out of thin air.

Idiot.

43 posted on 05/25/2009 3:32:16 PM PDT by Gorzaloon (Roark, Architect.)
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To: EGPWS

Mine is quieter :p


44 posted on 05/25/2009 3:34:01 PM PDT by wastedyears (Rock and roll ain't worth the name if it don't make ya strut)
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To: BipolarBob

We have a winner!

Post of the day.


45 posted on 05/25/2009 3:36:04 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: wastedyears
Mine is quieter :p

So you aren't an outspoken liberal yapper then?
~ snort

46 posted on 05/25/2009 3:36:41 PM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: GeronL
zero pollution??

and the electricity to compress that air??

Makes for a great promotion for home schooling doesn't it?

47 posted on 05/25/2009 3:39:17 PM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: The_Sword_of_Groo
Ok, there has been a question I have wanted ask someone who knows, for years(more than I care to admit), being an electronics tech, of sorts, earned my living at it more or less for the last 15 years of my working life, I have always meant to study, but never got around to it, why diesel electric motors were used in Trains and not diesel motors. Does it take less fuel to run the generators for the electric motors than it does to run a straight diesel engine? If so, then why are not the hybrids being built today utilizing diesel engines instead of gas?

I know, it is probably simple but if anyone on here has the knowledge and feels like taking the time to answer I would appreciate it.

48 posted on 05/25/2009 3:47:30 PM PDT by calex59
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To: EGPWS

Haven’t seen one of those enduros for a while and it appears to have a mono shock swing arm..I use to race Susuki 250s in Enduro in Nothern CA back in the day..


49 posted on 05/25/2009 3:50:11 PM PDT by calex59
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To: The_Sword_of_Groo

The car will not have enough power to exist in hilly San Feancisco, moonbat Mecca

This is but a grant magnet for some Rat Senator to placate some supporters with money


50 posted on 05/25/2009 3:50:19 PM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Crucify ! Crucify ! Crucify him!!)
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To: The_Sword_of_Groo

Good idea! Let’s see, if we can containerize liquified hydrocarbons, squirk them into an expansion chamber and ignite them ... hey, I think you’ve got soemthing there! [I have two such vehicles in my driveway.]


51 posted on 05/25/2009 3:51:34 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: The_Sword_of_Groo

It costs money to compress air. I’ll bet these will be “chick magnets” around the beach communities and golf courses!


52 posted on 05/25/2009 3:52:16 PM PDT by WellyP
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To: The_Sword_of_Groo
Laying down the sarcasm for a while, I have a question for the engineers out there. If you were going to run a vehicle on compressed gas, wouldn't it be more efficient to derive that pressure from a chemical reaction? Or would it be unfeasible to put enough chemicals on a vehicle to achieve enough pressure? Probably difficult to regulate i would assume. Any thoughts?
53 posted on 05/25/2009 3:53:22 PM PDT by calex59
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To: calex59

The electric motors provide power to the wheel directly and don’t need lots of energy sapping transmissions and gears

The swame is true of very large earth moving machines and trucks


54 posted on 05/25/2009 3:54:58 PM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Crucify ! Crucify ! Crucify him!!)
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To: The_Sword_of_Groo

same guy different suit?
55 posted on 05/25/2009 3:55:50 PM PDT by Sylvester McMonkey McBean
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To: golfisnr1
Lot of gas in Washington. Compressed too.

Hook Joe Biden or Bozo up to one of these and you could probably run forever. The only draw back with using Bozo would be you would need some teleprompters hooked up so he could see them.

56 posted on 05/25/2009 3:56:08 PM PDT by calex59
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To: bert

It works well and does away with the hydraulics and all the plumbing.


57 posted on 05/25/2009 3:57:09 PM PDT by WellyP
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To: calex59
Haven’t seen one of those enduros for a while and it appears to have a mono shock swing arm..I use to race Susuki 250s in Enduro in Nothern CA back in the day..

I have one in my garage, it's an '82 that I bought new and totes "ALMOST" 5000 miles on it.

It's my baby, however I spend more time focused on work and family than on riding.

Got her fired up last month and so far put 5 miles on her this year. I eked 45 miles out of her last summer though...

58 posted on 05/25/2009 3:57:48 PM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: bert

Yes, I know about LeTourneaus for instance. I was just wondering. Yes, you have the instant torque of the electric motor. So a diesel in a hybrid would make sense but no one is running one, and they aren’t running them the way a diesel electric runs either, they are using the little gas engine for motive power and electricity generation both. Sounds kinda inefficient to me.


59 posted on 05/25/2009 3:58:58 PM PDT by calex59
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To: EGPWS

I used to ride mine all the time, winter or summer, but of course I live in Northern CA and only have to contend with snow when I venture above about 1200 feet in the winter. I loved riding those dirt bikes. That one looks in great shape.


60 posted on 05/25/2009 4:00:38 PM PDT by calex59
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