Didn’t Lt. Columbo drive one those? There are “only three like it in the States”.
Didn’t Lt. Columbo drive one those? There are “only three like it in the States”.
Dear American recipient of hundreds of millions of taxpayer subsidies, your car is on fire and you’ve just gotten your ass kicked by the French.
U.S. Car Companies and Your Friendly Government have done a fine job keeping small, efficient diesels out of the US - and keeping Americans from knowing what they’re missing - but it’ll require some sneaky K-Street shenanigans to keep this one away.
Nevertheless, they will succeed. Don’t get your hopes up: If they can keep you from getting a Hilux or a Peugeot diesel, they’ll keep you from this one.
Wouldn’t it just be eaiser to put Al Gore in the trunk facing backwards?
Compressed air boost fed via regenerative braking is not new, it’s existed in commercial trucks for a while. Ford was doing some R&D on it a few years back in pickup trucks as I recall.
But, actually applying such a system to a passenger car and making it available to the public now is a major breakthrough, so congratulations are in order to Citroen. I’ve always admired Citroen, very innovative. They march to the beat of a different drummer. Their vision of “car” often isn’t at all like the American concept of a car, but when it works it’s something else.
Too bad they’re just a little too offbeat for the domestic market. I’d like to see them return.
Where’s the dryer?
I am constantly pulling objects like that out from between my big rigs duals. Throws the tire balance out of whack, thanfully the screams are very short lived as well.
Needs foot pedals as well.
I bet the metrosexuals will get all horny seeing these.
Color me skeptical, at least as the car is described in this poorly-written article.
There is no way a gas/air hybrid can run on air 80% of the time in city driving with air compressed by slowing down and braking. By definition, the energy produced this way must be less than 50% of the total used by the car during its trip, and when you figure in the losses in the various stages of the process a great deal less. I’d be very surprised if it’s as much as 25% of the time.
To get to the 80% number even for short trips you’d have to charge the air tanks initially, similar to recharging batteries in the garage overnight. Doing so, of course, uses electricity which must be generated using coal, gas or some other method.
Also, compressing air and then using it to drive motors, while highly convenient, is wildly inefficient.
The process for an IC car is: fuel burns, drives wheels, car moves.
For an air car it’s something like: fuel burns, drives turbine which turns generator to produce electricity, juice transmitted (with losses) to garage, electricity runs motor to run air pump, which compresses air with BIG energy losses, air is stored till released to run a not particularly efficient air motor which turns wheels, car moves.
Two stage process versus minimum five-stage process. By definition energy is lost at each stage, some more than others.
Ridiculous...
How do they make the process adiabatic?
Clown car alert.
Great concept, if the car could only make it 117 miles without requiring a visit to the mechanic.
But will the average motorist be able to afford one ??? Don't see any mention of the price but I'm guessing not...
Citroen and Renault.......
Two reason why the French are known for their wines.
“...reuse all the energy lost when slowing down or breaking...” I don’t think so. There will be leaks. There well be friction. There will be heating of the fluid (air) during compression that then bleeds away... The real question is, even with all these losses, can they make the system more efficient than anelectrical regenerative braking system? Oh, being lighter, smaller, cheaper, safer, and longer lasting would be nice too.
We're going to need a bigger car.
A true free lunch. The weight of batteries is eliminated. Exploding gas cylinders are a concern, but the tanks will probably be constructed from fiberglass. Fiberglass tanks puncture and burst, but they don't produce shrapnel, like metal tanks. Could be a great urban vehicle.