| Air-Car Ready for Mass Production |
| Written by Bob Ewing | |||
| Saturday, 26 May 2007 | |||
The world’s first commercial compressed air-powered vehicle is rolling towards the production line. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre, will be built by India’s largest automaker, Tata Motors. The Air Car uses compressed air to push its engine’s pistons. It is anticipated that approximately 6000 Air Cars will be cruising the streets of India by 2008. If the manufacturers have no surprises up their exhaust pipes the car will be practical and reasonably priced. The CityCat model will clock out at 68 mph with a driving range of 125 miles. Refueling is simple and will only take a few minutes. That is, if you live nearby a gas station with custom air compressor units. The cost of a fill up is approximately $2.00. If a driver doesn't have access to a compressor station, they will be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car’s built-in compressor to refill the tank in about 4 hours. The compressed air technology is basically just a way of storing electrical energy without the need for costly, heavy, and occasionally toxic batteries. So, in a sense, this is an electric car. It just doesn't have an electric motor. But don't let anyone tell you this is an "emissions free" vehicle. Sure, the only thing coming out of the tailpipe is air. But, chances are, fossil fuels were burned to create the electricity. In India, that mostly means coal. But the carbon emissions per mile of these things still far outdoes any gasoline car on the market. Unfortunately, the streets of North America may never see the Air Car, though; it's light-weight, glued-together fiberglass construction might not do so well in our crash tests. However, that does not mean the Air car is confined to the sub-continent. Nègre has signed deals to bring its design to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa. And this isn't the last we'll hear of the technology. The folks making the Air Car are already working on a hybrid version that would use an on-board, gasoline-powered compressor to refill the air tanks when they run low. Negre says that technology could easily squeeze a cross country trip out of one tank of gasoline. Via: Popular Mechanics
 written by Grady Hillhouse, May 27, 2007 It should be noted that when air is compressed, heat is created. This is the basic principle outline by Charle's Law. At these high pressures, the temperature of the air will increase drastically. To avoid superheating the air, most of this heat will have to be dissipated. This leads to inefficiency at the compression stage. The reverse is true as well. If the compressed air is allowed to cool to ambient temperatures before entering the car's tanks, the reduction of pressure in the air engine will cause the it to chill. This will reduce the air's effective pressure. This probably has a much smaller impact due to the extended time period over which the air will be decompressed, and the fact that ambient heat can easily be absorbed from the surrounding air (it seems the air car has found an alternative approach to reducing global warming). However, it does lead to another disadvantage. Because of these basic temperature changes associated with altering the pressure of the air, the air car will have no waste heat. While this may sound good, it means that there is no practical way to provide cabin heating. I guess it is just ironic for me that a low-emissions car would not have a heater to counter its impacts on global warming. However, since most of India has a fairly temperate climate, I guess it really isn't neccesary.  written by Allan, May 27, 2007 This is great! With the cost of rising fuel prices, $2.00 a fill up sounds fantastic. Only other problem is when its coming out in New Zealand and how much?  written by Internet Marketing Made Simple, May 27, 2007 The safety standards in the U.S. prevent this from being realized. However, what would it take to get this car up to U.S. standards? Would it be too heavy? What if it was converted into motorcycle that ran on air? The core idea is not a compressed air car but air compression as fuel. There are some interesting opportunities here...   written by Danger, May 27, 2007 Forget Charle's law. Compressed air, at 4000 psi could easily make a flame thrower, could easily "deglove" a human's hand if not handled properly, and if the tank was ever punctured in an accident, it is an absolute GUARANTEE that it would immediately explode. The fact that it's a bomb, is probably what would prevent the car from selling in the US---look at the labelling on heavily compressed air cylinders in the US. It is an awesome idea, but Helium would be more practical, compressable, and non-flammable--though at 4000 psi, it would still explode if the container was punctured, but it wouldn't be a fire explosion.  written by lels, May 27, 2007 So now air is flammable, well what do you know...  written by THINK!, May 27, 2007 No, Incorrect, Before you go off get some facts. Look up SCUBA tanks eh? even the ones made of aluminum, when penetrated by bullets don't "explode" see the recent mythbusters episode regarding the jaws myths for actual proof. The "degloving" is BS as well as the "flamethrower", the gas gets COLDER when it expands, not hotter. and that much pressure would merely push you out of the way. Please get some semblance of a clue before you post again.  written by Andrew, May 27, 2007 The design is interesting but if they want a North American success they need to scale everything up and then see what the price point is like. People here will not buy city only cars unless they are very cheap and very cheap is not possible anymore because of the cost of safety systems. So it must have a top speed of no less then 135 KPH (85 miles per hour) and it must have a range of at least 300 KM (200 miles) or it’s a joke. However at the price point talked about this sounds very possible even if it doubles or triples the cost and lowers the mileage. The fuel saving and convenience of home charging could make this sell here. Also this would have an interesting effect on the price of electricity if it becomes popular and would virtually require the construction of many new nuclear power plants. Probably better then sticking with gas however.  written by Tim, May 27, 2007 I don't think the range would be a big killer here, at least not for me. Most people keep their travels in city anyways. It would be a good family supplement, where you have a gasoline vehicle for long distance travels and a couple cheap air cars for everyday use. As far as refueling. I think by the time these vehicles hit the open market of America, advances in solar energy would make a solar powered home refueling station feasible. The average person might fill up once or twice a week, it seems reasonable to assume a small solar array on your roof could store the energy to compress that air. In regards to the article I'm quite excited about this. I saw a program on discovery a while back about this vehicle and have been waiting to see some news like this.  written by EVgeek, May 27, 2007 "So it must have a top speed of no less then 135 KPH (85 miles per hour) and it must have a range of at least 300 KM (200 miles) or it’s a joke." It may be a joke to you, but most people in America never travel more than 40 miles/day, and the top city speed is 55mph. Plus most of the world does not drive like Americans.  written by Free Thinker, May 27, 2007 I had the opportunity to meet an inventor who had made an air-cycle from a one piston air compressor. Two wheels on the back and one on the front. Clean air and no electrical parts. It was quite a site. Basically a small version of these. I cannot explain exactly how it worked, but it was fascinating nevertheless.  written by rachel, May 27, 2007 so, would the American government even agree to an idea this controversial? think about all the different things that could go wrong with this...the result (if it worked properly and without hurting anyone) would be awesome but so far, we don't really know what could happen unless we try it out. did people even experiment with it?- crash testing results, please.  written by Peter, May 27, 2007 This would be brilliant for a place like New York City where you never really get above 30-35mph and a 125 range would last practically forever. If you made the Taxi's use this technology, thing how much exhaust you'd clear out of the city!  written by Smarty pants, May 27, 2007 Hopefully these cars woun't be too expensive  . Preschoolers.. The expanding air will be cold... written by sanman, May 28, 2007 I'm wondering if it could power a small personal helicopter, gyroplane, etc There's no reason why this propulsion technology has to be restricted to cars.  written by ed, May 28, 2007 Read their site. The containers they use for the compressed air are certified for natural gas... They are also designed with failure in mind - if they fail they fail safely. I would LOVE to see these cars in NA.  written by Rich Stadler, May 28, 2007 Many life ending automobile accidents occur at under 40 MPH in full size cars and gasoline powered automobiles. I wonder how many people will have to die in this lightweight contraption until it too is declared unsafe at any speed?  written by Kimo, May 28, 2007 "The fact that it's a bomb, is probably what would prevent the car from selling in the US" Well, the fact is that every car is a rolling bomb. After all, three gallons of gasoline have the same explosive power as one stick of TNT. Think about that the next time you are exceeding the speed limit. written by Grady Hillhouse, May 28, 2007 Roughly 6.5 million automobile accidents occur and about 42,000 people die due to automobile related accidents each year. I think it is safe to say that cars aren't safe period. written by Grady Hillhouse, May 28, 2007 Clarification: above statistics are in the US.  written by Daniel, May 28, 2007 (1) Even if most of the people in America wouldn't buy it. Even if only a small fraction of the 2.8 million people who voted for the Green Party in 2000, would even consider it. There still would be enough of a market for it. America is a huge country. Tata is talking about manufacturing only 6000 units in a year. (2) where/when can I get a compressed air battery for my notebook, digital camera, and handphone?  written by Daniel, May 28, 2007 OK, it's not as heavy as a tank, with 3 tons of shielding to protect it's occupants in case of a crash. But who here can honestly say that it is less safe than motorcycles, which last time I checked, is legal on the roads ...  written by carlo, May 28, 2007 attention! search "EOLO" attention! looking for "EOLO" in already successful but never commercialized Europe, does not work is a "bufala"  written by carfreack, May 28, 2007 1. Tata is not india's largest car maker... 2. While it is true they are working on a small cheap car, it is almost certainly going to be boringly conventional technically.  written by Aurélien, May 28, 2007 Very interesting idea, I have to admit. But as green-minded person and a car lover, I live in a constant dilemma. Surely I support any new technology able to get our cars going greener. But I'm also attached to the pleasure of driving and that's why hydrogen is currently my personal favorite's. Hydrogen allows a car to feel like a real car but only rejects steam. Check out the BMW 750H for a great exemple http://www.channel4.com/4car/news/news-story.jsp?news_id=11371 Anyway, each step towards greener transportation habits is a good step so congratulations to Tata Aurélien http://senseup.wordpress.com  written by permafrog, May 28, 2007 . Tata is not india's largest car maker... who is? Tata Motors is India's largest and among the world's top five medium and heavy commercial manufacturers. http://www.iloveindia.com/cars/tata-motors/index.html  written by Mike, May 28, 2007 According to the video the cars will go from California to New York on one tank of gas powering an on board air compressor. They will never build a hybrid with that kind of range.  written by Richard, May 28, 2007 I think the key to cars like this is CHOICE. I realize that this car would not be for everyone but it would work for me and most of the people I work with. I commute to work each day on a train but I still need a car to get to the train station. On the other hand, what if cities passed a by-law that only allowed zero emmision vehicles in the city core? That would make our cites some of cleanest places on earth (in terms of air quality I mean). I think this kind of a "city friendly" car would work just fine in North America. Also, I think it is short sited to suggest that they could not be made "safe" bye NA standards.  written by Sam, May 28, 2007 "Also, I think it is short sited to suggest that they could not be made "safe" bye NA standards." Absolutely - in India the priority is low cost, due to the much, much lower incomes. Put it in a US context and you could probably afford to use more advanced (and therefore stronger) materials. When you consider the amount of money that has been thrown at things such as fuel cells, hybrids and battery powered cars - this invention has had nothing like so much attention and it is already showing very impressive results, beating many of the massively more expensive (and often equally flimsy) electric cars out there. If only someone would see the light and give this simple technology a bit of investment rather than endlessly flogging the dead (although snazzy and high tech*) horse that is hydrogen power, it could be a real contender. (* and useful to the oil industry)  written by Cam, May 28, 2007 I believe the air storage cylinders are actually made from carbon fibre - although that's a little beside the point of my post. In New Zealand (where I'm from) it's quite common for cars to be powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). Storage is facilitied by the instalation of an auxiliary gas cylinder attached to the vehicle. In addition to these fluids being compressed, they are also flamable - at least explosive enough to drive an Otto cycle engine. As far as I know, the storing of compressed CNG and LPG is safe. For a while, Police cars were even powered by LPG, and I still pass 4WD's with LPG tanks attached bouncing over rocks out in the bush. I've owned 2 CNG powered cars and still here to tell the tale. I doubt there is a serious danger from using compressed air as a fuel.  written by 1 Lucky Texan, May 28, 2007 ...could be supplied by a 'vortex tube' using the onboard compressed air. It could even supply cool or warm air when the vehicle is 'off' . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_tube Carl  written by Jay, May 29, 2007 maruti is largest manufacturer of cars for the general public, but tata also manufactures trucks, so add that to the mix and they probably are the top sellers of cars. also, india has hot climate for the most part of the year. so would not need a heater for the most part. and if it does...wear a sweater! also, out here everything is based in km and living in the cities, 125 miles would last you almost a month if not more. also lpg and cng gas is already wide in use here. where most if not all the taxis and ricks use it. as well as a growing percentage of buses. where you can get a fillup of lpg at a large number of gas stations  written by PCNews, May 29, 2007 ...if it is real. Because not a word on Tata Motors website  written by Sasha, May 30, 2007 I remember reading in an old car mag, from like 1960, about how in the world of the future (I think they were talking about 1980) eveybody would be using Hydrogen to fuel their cars - so incrementally improving fuel economy wasn't that important. Almost fifty years later, it's the exact same story. I don't remember seeing the 1980 Plymouth Hydro, but maybe I wasn't paying attention? Anyways, hydrogen cars are great, if you've got $1 Million (for a Honda, even!)- that's a long economy of scale away from an affordable $20,000 ride. This difference with the air car, is it's here now - and it's cheap, even without huge economies of scale! I have been a big proponent of this technology ever since I first saw it. For a year or so, I've been telling everyone who would listen about air cars, and posting on all sorts of blogs about this. When I read that Tata was going to start mass producing them, I just about pissed myself. This is fantastic news, and I am sure other countries will start soon. I am waiting with bated breath for them to roll over the feds and enter the NA market triumphant! I know in Chicago, these would sell like hot cakes-especially the hybrid version. Ditto for certain rural areas, where people are most cost conscious than image conscious. In the suburbs, not so much - these might be a bit intimidating to drive on urban freeway systems. |
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