Air-powered Autos (Star Trek Technology - A Car That Breathes Air, Just Like You Do. Unbelievable.)

MIT Technology Review ^ | September 19, 2002 | John Harney

[jstone78]

Forget electric cars, hydrogen-powered cars, Solar Cars, and other experimental "clean" technologies from the last century.

This is the real deal. A technology that relies on air pressure, just like your bike pump. This technology is out of this world. You heard it here first!

[sheik yerbouty]

The French have invented the automotive soufle

[Petronski]

This is the real deal.

BS. (Oh, and already been posted, find that thread.)

[Wurlitzer]

It will work however compressing and cooling air does not come cheap in energy terms. As you compress air it gets hot. That heat, for this application must be removed. All of this requires copious amounts of energy. Now the upside of this is that the energy COULD come from some non-or low polluting sources. I would have to learn more about the energy efficiency of the compressor, cooling system, running motor. The exhaust would be clean at least that part is true.

[AdA$tra]

Yeah, but what about the World's dwindling supply of air. There is no way the greens are going to let us use the air in Alaska either.

[AdA$tra]

Speaking of technology: Is anyone else having trouble with FR being slow and not showing pages for the last couple of days....or is it just me?

[MTRatt]

Guy Negre

Hey, this guy's name offends me!

[hopespringseternal]

LOLOL. You alternative technology guys keep me in stitches.

Where is the energy to compress and cool that air going to come from? The energy fairy?

120 miles at 30 mph? It just keeps getting funnier!

[Oberon]

Obviously, the vehicle also drastically reduces pollution...

WRONG. It moves it from the auto tailpipe to the power company smokestack. There may be advantages to doing that, but it's by no means a freebie.

And what happens when you get in a wreck with four air tanks pressurized at 4500 PSI?

BLAMMO.

[2banana]

The big question is can it compete with gasoline powered cars. I can think of 100's of ways to power a car - but not at the price of gasoline.

[Aquinasfan]

It will work however compressing and cooling air does not come cheap in energy terms. As you compress air it gets hot. That heat, for this application must be removed. All of this requires copious amounts of energy. Now the upside of this is that the energy COULD come from some non-or low polluting sources. I would have to learn more about the energy efficiency of the compressor, cooling system, running motor. The exhaust would be clean at least that part is true.

Those are two big plusses.

[Kaafi]

bump

[Wurlitzer]

"Those are two big plusses"

Absolutely! That is why I did not dismiss the concept out of hand. The energy required to do what I listed must be evaluated. My feeling, knowing how much my company pays to run the plants air compressors is that the energy economics will fail. If I am wrong then great we have an alternative for a limited application. Nothing wrong with that but, I would not invest my money in the concept at this point.

[Tribune7]

it takes four hours using a household electric outlet . . .0.

So, basically it's a coal powered car? (OK, in France it would be nuke powered.)

[rellimpank]

--next will be leprechauns running on treadmills, sipping on nectar for an energy source--

[jlogajan]

Two of the tanks would be charged with high-pressure air that would drive the pistons. As the car was moving the other two tanks would be charged and this process would continue driving the car for as long as you wished.

Heh heh, classic perpetual motion scam. The frictional, compression and decompression inefficiencies are rather large. Sorry, this concept won't work.

[nightdriver]

"explains that, in the tanks, the air is both cooled to minus 100 degrees Centigrade and compressed to 4,500 pounds per square inch.

OUCH! We have to carry a tank full of 4500psi tank of air? Imagine how high that would blow that 1500lb car with its occupants when it ruptures in a wreck.

A partially filled scuba tank will tear the rear end completely off of a car when it lets loose. This thing is a virtual bomb!

[balrog666]

This is the real deal.

Sure it is.

Now, turn on the heater in snow country or the air conditioner in the summer. Oops, 0-to-30 in 15 minutes and only a 30 minute supply of air. Whadda ya mean, no air conditioning? No stereo? And, how long can you run the lights at night??

Now, take that jockey sized driver out and remove those bicycle seats, add in some real seats and padding, put in two fat broads, a brood of kids, and a s*$tload of groceries. 0-to-15 in 30 minutes, a two mile range, and a hazard to everybody else on the road.

And what happens when it runs out of air on the road? Anybody got a $100,000 hyper-compression air station near their gas pumps?

Or when it springs a leak from those overstressed seals in the pneumatic systems? Tow it to where, lady? The junk yard? Okay!

And, finally, is anybody willing to insure this deathtrap?

Good luck, you'll need it.