Posted on 02/26/2014 1:07:24 PM PST by A Formerly Proud Canadian
Peugeot has revealed plans to begin selling the first air powered car next year.
Based on a Peugeot 208, it will combine a normal engine with a radical new system that runs on compressed air.
The firm says the car could reduce petrol bills by 80% when driven in cities.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
It is a hybrid vehicle using a small gas engine. Rather than charging batteries via a serpentine belt turning an alternator, it would tun the compressor, filling the pressurized air tank.
If the system were perfected, I think it could improve pollution in many cities. I know that sometime here in Calgary, because we are near the Rocky Mountains, there is temperature inversion, trapping pollution over the city, leaving a brown haze over the downtown. As there is no heavy industry in the city, this pall is from vehicle exhaust. If Peugeot’s system works, it could help this city a lot. I can only imagine how bad it gets in LA.
As crazy as this sounds, it is amazingly safe and the efficiencies aren’t that bad, comparable to other technologies.
They make the tanks out of material that completely/instantly disintegrates in an accident. But, I’ve wondered about punctured eardrums and collapsed/exploded lungs.
There are already numerous taxes on air.
I was gifted in the same way! That’s how I knew about him. The “trick” served me well after Lights Out! a in the dorm at Prep School! I was famous! 8^)
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).
There are laws relating to the conservation/conversion of energy. The air car idea is about one thing. Defying them. Just like electric cars. They are pie in sky feel good nonsense.
Put a 700ft lb diesel engine in a 6000 pound F350 and you get mileage near 20 mpg. Put a 1000cc engine with 80HP in mostly plastic car and maybe you get 40-50 with a tailwind.
The micro car struggles to climb hills or accelerate. It cannot transport enough groceries to feed a family of 4 for a week so you make multiple trips. It cannot accelerate quickly and as you have to floor it to get any performance, components are stressed and wear faster thus requiring more frequent replacement.
It requires many composite materials and other lightweight tricks all of which cost more and require more energy to produce than steel and diesel.
the entire econobox has a limited lifespan and hits the scrapper far quicker, again consuming energy for it’s recycling.
In the mean time, the big Ford is good for 300,000 miles, does not struggle in traffic, can make fewer trips because of greater carrying capacity, uses more easily obtained materials such as steel and diesel and is easily recycled in the big picture by comparison.
Over the lifetime of the two, the econobox takes more energy.
How to get more gov’t dollars...
Pie in the sky solutions to energy, its been working great!
Just Drill Baby Drill!
You wrote:
“Based on a Peugeot 208, it will combine a normal engine with a radical new system that runs on compressed air.
A French car that sucks. Quelle surprise!”
I reply
Since the air tank would have to be charge and then released in this case it both sucks and blows at the same time
Only in France!
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”.
-— stupid idea! compressed air as an energy storage
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/in-india-an-air-powered-car/26429
Note that the efficiency claims only apply to urban driving -- stop-and-go driving, in other words. It all has to do with recapturing braking energy. The Peugeot would capture braking energy as compressed air. A compressor can capture short bursts of energy much faster than a battery can. electric hybrid (such as a Prius), because batteries can't store small bursts of energy as quickly as a compressor. The more braking energy that's captured and reused, the more efficient the vehicle. That doesn't work well on the open road, where there's little braking energy to recapture.
Do you have a propane barbeque? How dangerous has your operation of it been? Many city buses run on CNG. Several decades ago, 95% of the cabs in Calgary ran on propane as it was less than 1/4 the price of gas at that time. Air is not flammable but propane and natural gas are, yet they power vehicles. How is compressed air any more dangerous than CNG?
There, fixed it fer ya!
That's not going to stop them, particularly is there's gub'mint money involved.
I'm pretty sure this was tried in India about a decade ago, iirc.
In North America, Peugeot does not sell its vehicles other than in Mexico, having pulled out of the US and Canada in the early ‘90s. I am unaware of PSA Peugeot Citroën having applied to 0.00 for any financial assistance, so how would their applying or not applying for government funding affect you, presuming that you are not a French citizen?
AFA your last comment, the one stopping it is your president. He is also the one holding up Keystone.
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.
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