An Air Car You Could See In 2009

[Dover]

Has this car already been reported on here?




Compressed-Air Powered cars could take you over 800 miles on a single fill-up, at speeds of up to 96 mph. They should refuel in less than 3 minutes, and at speeds over 35 mph emit about half the CO2 of a Toyota Prius. Best part? You could see them in the US at the end of next year.


Car-tech aficionados may already be familiar with Zero Pollution Motor’s (ZPM) compressed-air powered car. For those that haven’t heard of it yet, read on:

“The compressed air vehicle is a new generation of vehicle that finally solves the motorist’s dilemma: how to drive and not pollute at a cost that is affordable!”

What happens when you replace the explosions in your car’s combustion chamber with clean compressed air? Well, as long as you lighten things up by replacing heavier parts with aluminum, you end up with a clean, efficient way to power a vehicle.

The world’s first commercial compressed-air powered vehicle is currently being produced by India’s largest automaker, Tata Motors, who is licensing the technology from European-based company MDI (a company powered by the innovation of ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre). They anticipate having about 6000 of these vehicles on city streets in India in 2008.

How does an Air Car Work?
Although potentially revolutionary it really isn’t that complicated. What a compressed-air car does is use the force of super-compressed air to move the engine’s pistons up and down, as opposed to explosions produced from injecting a small amount of fuel...cont'd

http://gas2.org/2008/07/15/an-air-car-you-could-see-in-2009-zpms-106-mpg-compressed-air-hybrid/

[loveable liberal]

1. Me Likey!!!

[1776Forever]

2. Isn't it ironical that the very thing GM & Big Oil tried to keep from us is killing their industry?

And India is the one that is running with it?

Amazing!:nopity:

[fascisthunter]

4. oh no... it's the American car consumers fault

didn't you know?

[fascisthunter]

3. Very very cool

Saw a special on this car a year ago. Didn't realize it was going to be a hybrid but it makes sense. Good start...

INNOVATION

[One_Life_To_Give]

5. 5+ years since first news stories

Over 5+ years since the firsty news stories came out. Promising that this car would overtake Europe by storm by 2003 or 2004 at the latest. And yet I still have not seen where even 50 Cars are in the hands of customers anywhere in the world. Much less the tens of thousands of cars that has been implied in the stories.

Not to mention the huge difference in customer expectation between a low cost car in India and a low cost car in the US. Front and side curtain airbags, passenger roll cage, crumple zones, heat/defrost, air-conditioning, etc.

[Kelvin Mace]

6. I keep hearing about it

and have heard about it for several years. The only actual model demonstrated had a range of about 2 miles. Despite claims of 40-80 miles, this had not been demonstrated publicly.

Until someone shows me a prototype that performs as claimed, this is BS.

[Bake]

7. Why does it need an engine with pistons?

Shouldn't there be a more efficient way to transfer that energy to the drive train?

Bake

[razors edge]

12. Pistons are still used to compress gasses.

Some piston motors/pumps are variable displacement and don't require valves, like a variable displacement hydraulic pump where the cylinders and the pistons are arranged in a circle like a revolver, and both rotate together having the lower piston rods fixed on a rotating table.

Tilting the the cylinders to the side changes the stroke length. Would work like an automatic transition built into the motor.

Not sure if that is the tech used here, but it would definately cut out some weight.

Edit: Not the same tech used here, this thing burns gas above 35 MPH.

[hendo]

8. That will be awesome

when they come out with the 6 seater and when it gets released in the US.

[tismyself]

9. cool

I think these cars are really something. A guy named Roy Meyers designed a compressed air car in the 30's, it would be interesting to see what is different in the designs now.

[Marblehead]

10. sounds good

no battery to mess with

[JohnWxy]

11. now that is interesting! Is it's mpg about 100?

What about the volkswagen car at link below article on the "air" car: 285 mpg!