Gary DiPietroSr
Well-Known Member
A new car design...
Free Gas
- Thread starter Gary DiPietroSr
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Jerry Gerner 2
Well-Known Member
That's pretty cool but why should you need to keep filling it up. They need to look at air ride suspension systems. Retrofit a small compressor or even a belt driven compressor like the ones we use on our show trucks in my club, we never have to fill up unless we drain all the air from the tanks when we're working on them.
:supercool::driving:
:supercool::driving:
Kevin Lang
Well-Known Member
The car can go an underwhelming 110 km/hr. But how far can it drive at that speed, which would really be a minimum to see usage in the USA? It does not say that the 200 km (let's call it 120 paltry miles) maximum range is at it's maximum speed.
In fact, the video implies that for any real distance at interstate-like speeds, you'd need a gas/air hybrid car.
Does it have acceleration to allow it to be used in our cutthroat city traffic? What kind of payload can this stuff haul? Honestly, the pickup version reminds me of the sissy electric mini-pickups we have @ my job, and with just a driver inside, they can barely crest a speedbump.
This is a far cooler idea than asinine ideas like "Ethanol" and "Bio-Diesel" which are not sustainable (ironic in a sense), or hydrogen which is unlikely to ever be implemented, or the spectacular failure that is CNG, but the car's limitations aren't made clear.
Shoot, what gas station today doesn't already have at least one compressor? Even if it isn't at a high enough PSI, perhaps the onboard compressor could beef it up.
When they said a 4-hour refill, I thought this was just another gimmick, but when they said 3 minutes with a compressor, then provided their compressors are cheap, we may just have the ONLY practical non-gasoline fuel source.
BTW, the car may be modern, but did anyone else notice that their design HQ certainly was not? I half expected to see some slide rules in there. :banana:
I'm confused. They'd still need to fill up as the engine is powered only by compressed air, it's not a hybrid as I understand it, so the only thing that could make more compressed air is the energy from the compressed air already in the system, which sounds suspiciously like perpetual motion to me ??
As for the proposed gas/air hybrid version, it's probably more practical to just copy the Prius and have the gas engine power the wheels @ speed than to have it compress air and then use the compressed air to power the engine.
In fact, the video implies that for any real distance at interstate-like speeds, you'd need a gas/air hybrid car.
Does it have acceleration to allow it to be used in our cutthroat city traffic? What kind of payload can this stuff haul? Honestly, the pickup version reminds me of the sissy electric mini-pickups we have @ my job, and with just a driver inside, they can barely crest a speedbump.
This is a far cooler idea than asinine ideas like "Ethanol" and "Bio-Diesel" which are not sustainable (ironic in a sense), or hydrogen which is unlikely to ever be implemented, or the spectacular failure that is CNG, but the car's limitations aren't made clear.
Shoot, what gas station today doesn't already have at least one compressor? Even if it isn't at a high enough PSI, perhaps the onboard compressor could beef it up.
When they said a 4-hour refill, I thought this was just another gimmick, but when they said 3 minutes with a compressor, then provided their compressors are cheap, we may just have the ONLY practical non-gasoline fuel source.
BTW, the car may be modern, but did anyone else notice that their design HQ certainly was not? I half expected to see some slide rules in there. :banana:
I'm confused. They'd still need to fill up as the engine is powered only by compressed air, it's not a hybrid as I understand it, so the only thing that could make more compressed air is the energy from the compressed air already in the system, which sounds suspiciously like perpetual motion to me ??
As for the proposed gas/air hybrid version, it's probably more practical to just copy the Prius and have the gas engine power the wheels @ speed than to have it compress air and then use the compressed air to power the engine.
Jerry Gerner 2
Well-Known Member
The belt driven compressor that we use in our trucks to run the air ride use the serpentine belt to regenerate air. As you have the motor running it makes the air, thus no need for repeated fill-ups. When we drain the air completely from the tank to release everything it only takes less than a minute to fill up the 280psi 20 gallon tank with the electric compressor.
:banana::driving:
:banana::driving:
This car has been available in Europe for several years. It was supposed to come to the US in 2010 but I have not heard of it being for sale here yet.
The compressed air engine was designed by a Formula-1 racing engineer. The car uses a carbon-fiber air tank that holds 4000+PSI of compressed air. It also has a small 8 gallon tank for gasoline. The gasoline does not power the engine but is used in an pre-heater to heat the already compressed air to create even more pressure and to generate more power and more driving range. Since the gasoline is not burned by the engine, it does not produce the polutants of a normal internal combustion engine
The model they advertised as coming to the US gets about 104 MPG and has a range of over 800 miles on a completely filled air tank and gas tank. The original car was reported to have a top speed of 90 MPH with excellent acceleration.
The original car had an onboard, electric powered air compressor, but because it needed to produce over 4000 PSI, it needed AC power to run the compressor...Kind of like charging the battery on an electric car.
They claim there is no danger of the compressed air tank exploding since it is made of carbon fiber, if damaged by a collision it will crack and the air will leak the air out much like a flat tire.
The car does have an alternator and battery to power the lights and other accessories much like a conventional car. The cars were designed to sell for about $17K each and they were fully equiped with AC, radio, and other features like most cars have today. The main dashboard instument was a LCD TV style screen that could be switched to show Speedometer and to monitor the fuel and air pressure systems, and could be switched to display radio, navigation system, etc.
A company in India has already purchased the rights to manufacture and sell a cheaper smaller version of the compressed air engine car for the India market.
They also claim that there is no radical technology that would prevent any existing trained mechanic from working on this car since it did not require special tools, equipment or additioal training.
I had a link to the manufactures website, but not sure where it's at. I'll post it if I can find it.
...Rich
The compressed air engine was designed by a Formula-1 racing engineer. The car uses a carbon-fiber air tank that holds 4000+PSI of compressed air. It also has a small 8 gallon tank for gasoline. The gasoline does not power the engine but is used in an pre-heater to heat the already compressed air to create even more pressure and to generate more power and more driving range. Since the gasoline is not burned by the engine, it does not produce the polutants of a normal internal combustion engine
The model they advertised as coming to the US gets about 104 MPG and has a range of over 800 miles on a completely filled air tank and gas tank. The original car was reported to have a top speed of 90 MPH with excellent acceleration.
The original car had an onboard, electric powered air compressor, but because it needed to produce over 4000 PSI, it needed AC power to run the compressor...Kind of like charging the battery on an electric car.
They claim there is no danger of the compressed air tank exploding since it is made of carbon fiber, if damaged by a collision it will crack and the air will leak the air out much like a flat tire.
The car does have an alternator and battery to power the lights and other accessories much like a conventional car. The cars were designed to sell for about $17K each and they were fully equiped with AC, radio, and other features like most cars have today. The main dashboard instument was a LCD TV style screen that could be switched to show Speedometer and to monitor the fuel and air pressure systems, and could be switched to display radio, navigation system, etc.
A company in India has already purchased the rights to manufacture and sell a cheaper smaller version of the compressed air engine car for the India market.
They also claim that there is no radical technology that would prevent any existing trained mechanic from working on this car since it did not require special tools, equipment or additioal training.
I had a link to the manufactures website, but not sure where it's at. I'll post it if I can find it.
...Rich
Kevin Lang
Well-Known Member
Wow, 4000 psi. Pretty spiffy..
How was the range computed? 800 miles of NYC/DC city driving? 800 miles of 75+ mph on the interstate? Or 800 miles putzing around podunk, France @ 20 mph?
I'm curious as to its practical range, not its range in whatever theoretical conditions the calculations were made in.
800 miles is a little less than 2 average tanks on the ST for me. 2 tanks on the ST costs about 100 bucks. If 3 minutes of air, and 8 gallons of gas (20 bucks), can get the same thing for 1/5th the cost, I'm in.
...of course, how much power does a 4000 psi compressor suck up? How much does one of those bad boys cost to buy & install, provided it can't jack into the mains? That is a contributing factor for me, but of course, I don't have to have one @ my house if gas stations adopt it...but I'd want one.
Jerry Gerner 2
Well-Known Member
Where'd you get 4000psi? We run 10 to 20 gallon air tanks and it takes between 190-280psi to fully lift the trucks, depending on which on it is.
Kevin Lang
Well-Known Member
The 4,000 psi is what powers the car. I had a blurb with the quote on trying to guesstimate what pressure would give 100 kilos of air, but that was before I saw Richard L's post. Rather than mess around with an approx #, I took his 4k psi figure as gospel. I didn't edit out the quote when I did that blurb.
OK, I have located the manufacturer's website: http://www.mdi.lu/english/index.php
They have made a lot of updates, but do not appear to be talking about USA dealerships as there several years ago? The are not giving the same spec's as they did before.
Now they say the air pressure is 300b to 450b ?? I don't know what the "b" stands for or what that pressure is equal to in PSI? Is that some kind of barametric pressure? They are giving all the speeds and fuel economy in Km's which is 0.62 miles per Km So the range they give is 1500 Km using both air and gasoline which is now over 900 mile range.
In town and only using compressed air it gets about 180 Km's which is only about 110 Miles, but still not bad for a city car that you can plug in at home and the compressor will fill your tanks in 1.5 to 4.5 hours (depending upon the exact model you have)
It appears that top speed may now only be about 75 MPH instead of the 90 MPH they originaly stated a few years ago. It also appears that the price has gone up quite a bit from the original $17,000 but all the prices were given in British Pounds....Odd for a car built in France and on the Euro standard?
A very interesting concept but none of their models appear to have made it to the US yet. I have not seen any on the road, nor have I seen any advertisements, and you can't sell something if nobody knows it exists?
...Rich
They have made a lot of updates, but do not appear to be talking about USA dealerships as there several years ago? The are not giving the same spec's as they did before.
Now they say the air pressure is 300b to 450b ?? I don't know what the "b" stands for or what that pressure is equal to in PSI? Is that some kind of barametric pressure? They are giving all the speeds and fuel economy in Km's which is 0.62 miles per Km So the range they give is 1500 Km using both air and gasoline which is now over 900 mile range.
In town and only using compressed air it gets about 180 Km's which is only about 110 Miles, but still not bad for a city car that you can plug in at home and the compressor will fill your tanks in 1.5 to 4.5 hours (depending upon the exact model you have)
It appears that top speed may now only be about 75 MPH instead of the 90 MPH they originaly stated a few years ago. It also appears that the price has gone up quite a bit from the original $17,000 but all the prices were given in British Pounds....Odd for a car built in France and on the Euro standard?
A very interesting concept but none of their models appear to have made it to the US yet. I have not seen any on the road, nor have I seen any advertisements, and you can't sell something if nobody knows it exists?
...Rich
Kevin Lang
Well-Known Member
Wow, that air pod is nauseating to look at.
