Company officials want to make the first air-powered car to hit U.S. roads a $17,800, 75-hp equivalent, six-seat modified version of MDI’s CityCAT that, thanks to an even more radical engine, is said to travel as far as 1,000 miles at up to 96 m.p.h. with each fill-up.
According to BBC.com: The car will be driven by compressed air stored in carbon-fibre tanks. The tanks, built into the chassis, can be filled with air from a compressor in just three minutes — much quicker than a battery car. Alternatively, it can be plugged into the mains for four hours and an on-board compressor will do the job.You put a set of tanks in the garage, solar cells on the roof to drive the compressor, and never ever go to a gas station again.
Rico wants one. Especially because it will piss off the ragheads no end...
Here is a study showing the relative efficiency of the air car versus electric car propulsion.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.efcf.com/reports/E18.pdf
Summary - Electric cars are much more efficient. Look at the ratio of energy taken from the grid compared to the energy delivered to the car's locomotion.
Electric car - 76% of energy available for locomotion.
Air car - 37%.
The air car loses a whopping 53% of the energy because that's what is used to compress the air. You lose if before you ever start driving the car!
Here's another way to look at it: You buy 100 MJ (mega joules) of electricity. How far can you drive your Taurus-class car on it?
Electric car: 133 km.
Air car: 46 km.
The advantage of the air car isn't in its energy efficiency, it's in it's relative cheapness. I think air motors will be cheaper and simpler to build. And a storage tank for air should be low tech and cheap. Electric vehicles suffer from the high battery costs.
If UltraCaps ever take off, or EEStor ever delivers on their promises, then electric vehicles will be a much better deal than air cars.