A revolutionary idea

cntl

I am sorry, I couldn't help myself but post it on the forum, even though it's only indirectly relevant to cycling. I just think it is a superb invention:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid ... =1&bbcws=1

If only there was political will All petrol stations have air compressors that could be used (or modified) to power the car. £1 for a full tank? £1 for 200 km? I would even buy a compressor and keep it in my garage! £2000 for the cheapes model? How come those guys had problems finding investors? The world is mad.

Random Vince

you try running one up a yorkshire hill side with a load in it

it has been done before, its nothing new.

nwallace

Questions
1) What does it sound like when it is running?
2) What is it like in a crash, think GeeWizz
3) How does the air tank react to puncture
4) If I run out of air out with pushing distance of a fueling station
4.1: Can the AA/RAC/GF/etc carry a suitable compressor in a van?
4.2: Can I hop out with a track or foot pump and give it a refill myself?
5) Is weight and power being taken up with stupid things like air con, power steering and servo assited brakes?

As a very simple city run about it would probably work quite well however atmospheric pressure has never been all that successful as a propulsion method.

One thing it does have going for it is that other than the energy required to build a strong enough footpump its total carbon output could be down to the person pumping it up!

Since there is a container at high pressure presumably it would need to have similar safety features to that of steam powered vehicles whose boilers must have a ticket saying they can take the requisite pressure and overpressure valves work. These are tested by the owner and boiler examiner over pressuring the things and hoping it doesn't blowup and kill them.

prj45

Can I get it going with my shock pump yeah LOL RAOFLMAO OMFG LOL!!! ROL!!!!

MilitantGraham

There's a website all about it here. http://www.theaircar.com/
I like the bit where they explain how the air has to be filtered before it can be comressed to 300 bar and the exhaust gas is nothing more than air. As they say;

...it is the first time that a car has produced minus pollution...With this system the air that comes out of the car is cleaner than the air that went in.

DavidTQ

Hmm I dont buy this at all theres some VERY dodgy maths going on here 22kwh Of electricity to fill up the tank, 3-4 hours of compressing air to 300bar, the maths doesnt work out, 22kwh of electricity delivered in 4 hours runs at 5.5 kwh basically it will need a 24 amp fuse, this would mean it wont be able to plug into a normal mains outlet, youre going to need a specialist wiring installation to be able to "plug it in" .

Try sleepin through the "filling up"... or worse try sleeping through that when you, and both your next door neighbours are trying to charge their cars at the same time. Anyone here worked with industrial compressors? and noticed the noise they make most of them compress to around 10 bar! This is 30x the pressure, running for 4 hours non stop...

I would also be extremely surprised if these things didnt slow to a crawl on a hill or possible even stall completely on a decent hill, Compressed air does strike me as being a source that would be good at providing the "oomph" to get up hills.

The number of "watts" required to move a vehicle are determined not by the source of the energy but by the design and mass of the vehicle, and the conditions. Whilst fossil fuel burning power stations are no doubt more energy efficient than a stand alone petrol engine the savings wont be "world saving" in our country this would be about pollution centralisation rather than pollution free, its little different to an electric car, instead of storing energy in a battery you're storing it in air under pressure, I dont believe there will be much more mechanical efficiency in a compressed air engine than in a electric motor.

This vehicle is far more of a fuel duty dodger than seriously good for the environment as far as I can see. The fact is that fossil fuels are still burnt to run it, it might be centralising pollution and making use of the efficiency of industrial scale generators burning the fuel, but you cant over come the laws of physics, The watts of power output to shift the vehicle around are the same regardless of the method of generating that power. The only benefit this vehicle brings is the difference in efficiency between a petrol engine, and a industrial electric generator - electricity transmission losses and energy losses during the compression process (sound energy is one form of energy loss).

Its an interesting idea but its only environmentally sound when mains electricity is sustainably generated...

hevipedal

you wouldn't be charging up the vehicle with a home compressor but going to the garage and using the tyre pump station.............................

leoccp

High pressure scuba cylinders are routinely filled to 300 bar in 20ish minutes and there is a system of inspections and testing that to make them safe. The storage cylinders in this car look like carbon fibre which are easily strong enough to have a working pressure of 300bar.
Carbon fibre cylinders are not used in scuba too much because they're buoyant, but for this application their low weight would make them ideal.