Move it on over buddy! ; )
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 ...
Move it on over buddy! ; )
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?
Idiot.
Mine is quieter :p
We have a winner!
Post of the day.
So you aren't an outspoken liberal yapper then?
~ snort
and the electricity to compress that air??
Makes for a great promotion for home schooling doesn't it?
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.
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..
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
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.]
It costs money to compress air. I’ll bet these will be “chick magnets” around the beach communities and golf courses!
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
same guy different suit?
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.
It works well and does away with the hydraulics and all the plumbing.
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...
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.
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.
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