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 ...
Shifting to electricity is not going to help anything.
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See what happens when government has too much power? They pass laws that hold back progress ;)
Cylinder needs periodic inspections.
And internal combustion motors don’t? Going by the comments about this, we should just come out and say we oppose anything that reduces a cars reliance on oil/gasoline.
As an accountant, I won’t, can’t delve into engineering, though I have some knowledge from decades ago when I worked for a while in power engineering. It does seem that some people, with more knowledge of the subject, like Per Tunestal, from Lund University, see some potential in the science. Peugeot seems to think that they can make something more efficient. IIRC, I/C engines are only 20-21% efficient. If they have developed a way to capture some of those losses, the only question is, at least for is, will this recapture outweigh the additional costs (weight and $s) of the additional hardware required?
Electric hybrids do not work, in my opinion, because of the costs to build the batteries, the effect of heavy metal and chemicals on the workers who make them. Here, I am concerned about potential fires on board, chemical spills, accidents where there is an extra 600-1,000 pounds of battery hitting another car, danger to first responders from spills and high voltage. Upon disposal, what is to be done with the battery, how to recycle it and the cost of replacement. Too many negatives with these. It would seem that the technology for the compressed air hybrid should be much cheaper to build, so the savings realized do not need to be as high as those claimed by electric hybrid vendors.
If Peugeot can mafe it work, more power to them!
I live in Alberta. I don't see 0.00's strategy effecting AB very much. We are tied to the Western grid, but cannot export south, only to BC (750MW AC tie line) or SK (150MW DC tie line). If anything, it should, theoretically, reduce the price of coal here, if 0.00 taxes it to US users. Generators will eventually retro-fit to NG, though that is a capital-intensive process.
We have 30-40,000 years supply of coal in this Province. I see all kinds of technological improvement in coal-fired generation technology. In addition, though I don't know the process, coal was used as feedstock to produce petrol in Nazi Germany, especially after they lost the oil fields in the east. It should not be too difficult to further frac the product down to C1 & C2.
I'm still wondering though, how a full tank of CNG, as used by buses all over the world, is safer than a full tank of compressed air?
Oh man! The things I wish I could un-read. It does explains so much about the French though. Not in a million years would I pay my heard earned money to hear a man farting on stage!
How much more metal do the have surrounding the bomb?
Sounds like it might.
This is not new technology. It's been around as long as cars have been around. If it were a better idea, it would have been done already.
Your comment reminds me of a comment made by Charles H. Duell, the Commissioner of the U.S. Office of Patents in 1899. "Everything that can be invented has been invented."
Here are some other interesting quotes from the past:
"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy." -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.
"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.
AFA the operating costs of CNG vehicles? If you choose to check out the link, you can find some details there. AFA compressed air hybrids, I don't have info on it. Remember, I posted an article from the Daily Mail yesterday, which I found interesting. I am not an engineer, nor am I a marketer for Peugeot, merely someone who is frugal, looking for ways to save money. A compressed air hybrid makes sense, as long as the savings outweight the amortized capital cost of the system. Peugeot feels it does. More power to them. Unlike electric hybrids, these will not have to overcome 600-1,000 of batteries using toxic chemicals and exotic materials, so should not cost anywhere near what electronic hybrids will cost.
If I were you, I would invest every dollar I possess into compressed-air cars.
Thank you, Mr. Ned Ludd, I’ll take your advice for what its worth.
I see. You don’t believe in putting your money where your mouth is.
“The compressed air is trapped in what is referred to as a hydraulic accumulator. Efficient enough.”
Now there is something I know a bit about. As a machinist and fabricator, I built and installed hydraulic accumulators into industrial machinery. They are a steel cylinder with a floating piston, with compressed air on one side, and hydraulic oil on the other. They don’t hold a great volume of compressed air and as I see it, would be useful mainly to give an underpowered car a quick boost in acceleration in heavy traffic. Such a device would not take you around the block!
Are you doubting your own counsel?
No, but you seem to be.
Based on the size of the accumulator in the diagram, I agree that it doesn't appear to offer much in the way of distance. I'd guess a volume something less than 20 gallons (total).
Your perception that the point of the accumulator is to give acceleration is quite correct. The engine is sized for average power use, and the accumulator provides peak power well above the engine power. Wiki has a pretty good summary at Hybrid_vehicle.
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