For inner city drivers, a car that uses no gas at all: the Air Car [View All]

[ProfessorPlum]

http://theaircar.com/

When you were a kid, did you ever have one of those toy cars that you pumped up with air, then released the pressurized gas to drive the car’s wheels? A European engineer has been taking that basic principle and trying to design an actual car around it. The basic idea is that you have a tank that you fill with pressurized air, then release that pressure in a controlled manner and harness the potential energy of the air pressure to create kinetic movement. A prototype has been made and they are starting to bring a small fleet of these cars into test production. Of course it is small (very small indeed by American standards), but bear in mind that in European cities cars are already extremely small because a) gas is very expensive and b) European cities were not designed with parking in mind.

How far/fast does it go?

“The end product is a light weigh vehicle that can reach speeds up to 220 km/h (even though the legal limit is 120.)” That’s about 120 mph.

“The recharging of the car will be done at gas stations, once the market is developed. To fill the tanks it will take about to 2 to 3 minutes at a price of 1.5 euros. After refilling the car will be ready to driver 200 kilometres. The car also has a small compressor that can be connected to an electrical network (220V or 380V) and will recharged the tanks completely in 3 or 4 minutes.”

The car is lubricated with a single quart of vegetable oil, which is changed about every 30,000 miles.

Pollution? None, as it releases air into the air. The only pollution involved is in the electricity to run the air compressor to recharge the tank.

Safety? One concern with a car with a pressurized gas tank is that it would explode and propel the car in a random direction in case of a crash. This has been dealt with by designing a system that splits open in a defined way in case of a collision, dissipating the air safely.

Here’s something else cool about these cars (pun intended). When air is compressed and then allowed to expand, it cools down. This is called the Joule-Thompson effect, and it is why you pucker to blow and cool down your food. Putting pressure on the air as it passes through your lips causes cooling when it expands. So the air coming out of the car will be cold, and can be used to air condition the passengers.

They are also developing models that have duel fuel systems, switching to liquid fuel if necessary (for example if you run out of air pressure).

It’s still pretty pie-in-the-sky, but it makes me smile to read about it and think that maybe someday urban drivers will used compressed air to get around.