A Little Engine That Could Make Gasoline Obsolete (Compressed Air Powered Car Alert)

Los Angeles Times ^ | 02/22/05 | Dan Weikel

[nothingnew]

Air is compressed to 4,500 pounds per square inch —..."and it blowed up real good" as a gas car!

FMCDH(BITS)

[Reactionary]

It's a good thing liberals are an excellent source of hot air, eh?

They go on about everything.

[nothingnew]

hahahaha!!! L'ingOL!!!

FMCDH(BITS)

[DBrow]

The volume of compressed air to output 25 hp from an engine for any length of time would be staggering.

[Forrestfire]

10,000,000 hand pumps in our prisons.

[Bogey78O]

Google says an aluminum 2cu. ft tank holds 80 cu ft @2-3000 PSI

[MeanWestTexan]

If I was in the car next to this death trap and hit by a piece of that exploding tank (and lived), I might be calling that lawyer.

[Plutarch]

No need for A/C, as that compressed air coming out is going to be cold.

[AZ_Cowboy]

It's about what I have in my Oxygen Cylinder for the Torch when it is full. Those cylinders are machined from a sloid block, and they are heavily regulated. I can only rent them, not own them. You also have to transport them with a heavy metal cap over the valve up top and are required by law to have them fastened securely on trucks. If one of those things got loose, it'd be like a missile.

My trouble with this whole air car thing is that somewhere, there's going to have to be massive compressors working to do this push from atmospheric all the way to 4500 psig. That's going to require a lot of energy, and it's also going to require a colossal set of heat exchangers for that matter.

This reminds me of electric and flywheel cars in lots of ways, because I think in the end all that's bieng done is moving the tailpipe from one place to another.

[goldstategop]

It reminds me of the search for Perpetual Motion. People have dreaming up since time immemorial for a way to get energy for free. There's always a catch somewhere. And with this car its the pitiful horesepower. It may be a novelty but I don't see a practical market for it - even if its the ideal ecocar.

(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")

[Brian328i]

Yah, whats the 0-60 time? 1 minute?
This is such a joke, I got a 397cc Honda 400EX Fourwheeler that pumps out about 35HP and goes about 75mph max and I'm sure its ALOT more economically efficient than this french pile of poo.

[nascarnation]

continuing proof that newspaper writers never studied thermodynamics in college............

[kizzdogg]

No guys it really is remarkable. Look at the French engineering.

[Publius6961]

I would buy one in a second, if the price were proportional to the actual cost of manufacturing.

$10k minimum sounds way high...

(Yes, I am aware that some golf carts cost more than that) I wouldn't take a $10k golf cart if you paid me.

[Paleo Conservative]

Interesting to see what happens whenb an air tank with 4,500 psi pressure gets hit by another car going 70mph.

[NYTexan]

[martin_fierro]

So long story short, this is about as viable as a Segway.

Thanks, but I'll pass.

[goldstategop]

Its too expensive. My 2.0 Liter VW New Beetle cost $10,000 and change. News of the death of the internal combustion engine has been greatly exaggerated.

(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")

[MeanWestTexan]

The only thing I see that is remarkable are two nice Dow-Corning medical implants

[AZ_Cowboy]

That leads me to another question/problem:

How are they going to deal with potential icing of the air lines inside the car? Otherwise, performance will drop steadily with operating time until the entire system is allowed to warm up. I imagine the lines must be heated (wwith what surplus heat? Pneumatics get COLD during use. Ever use an air drill?), or the air must be totally dehydrated (good luck!).

This is no joke, and people have ignored it in the past. Ignoring icing in the design is the suspected reason the USS Thresher (a nuclear sub) sunk. They tried to blow ballast, but the lines iced and so they failed to blow the tanks.