Air Power?

[Capt. Mike Holmes]

A frenchman has supposedly invented an engine powered by compressed air that will run a small car. Besides needing no fuel and using a small amount of vegetable oil for lubrication, since it filters the air it uses very thoroughly, it effectively produces MINUS pollution.

If this thing works, not only would it largely relieve us from dependence on foreign oil - or ANY oil - but it would give us a way to avoid those ugly emotional scenes sure to come at the fuel dock as prices of diesel continue to rise.

www.theaircar.com.

[mike ohlstein]

From their site.....

The vehicles do not have normal speed gauges. Instead, they will have a small computer screen that shows the speed and engine revolutions. The system allows for infinite possibilities such as GSM telephone systems, GPS satellite tracking systems, programs for delivery people, emergency systems, internet connections, voice recognitions, map presentation, traffic information... in three words: the future is now.

That's four words....

Let's hope they are better at figuring out how to make the thing work.

[Capt. Mike Holmes]

Being french, the whole thing may be just a bunch of - hot air.

[AndreF]

Probably takes 12 gallons of fuel an hour to run the air compressor.

[Capt. Mike Holmes]

I think they plan on filling them at service stations, mostly (don't they charge for air now?), the on board compressor is electric, which of course does come from fossil fuels for the most part.

[randall]

ye of little faith......dream a little....hey ...my boat continually has tried to run on salt water

[Carl]

Hmmm isn't the internal combustion engine an "Air Engine" for all intensive purposes. Except it compresses its own air by way of combustion.

Go to your "Air Station", toss in a few quarters to fill her up and run down to the next station...toss in a few quarters to fill her up...go down to the next...

Wonder if they will have a manual pump on board, you just pump and go, hey that could be a great name "pump-n-go" ! Remember you heard it here first.

Hmm maybe a device so when you car pool everyone can fill the tank as you go... everyone gets a straw-like fill tube and they can blow into the tube like a balloon, blow blow Blow-n-Go... man I'm on a roll here.

Hmm in the seats you could have a device that collects natural compressed hot air with a methane kicker, what to call it...

[CaptPatrick]

From what I gather, the system is designed to compress it's own air....

"The engine has 4 two-stage pistons, i.e. 8 compression and/or expansion chambers. They have two functions: to compress ambient air and refill the storage tanks; and to make successive expansions (reheating air with ambient thermal energy) thereby approaching isothermic expansion."

How it works...

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[In Memory of Vicroy]

Probably infringes my patent on the Grosbeak Propulsion System...

UV

[Rawleigh]

Or the perpetual motion machine!!

[BCBertie]

What a literal bunch of hot air!

This vehicle offers no improvement in mileage, emissions, or anything else. All it attempts to do is produce its emissions in one place, and allow you to operate emission-free in an emission-free zone. They clearly state that for the vehicle to be autonomous (i.e., to actually go from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale) requires fossil fuel. So when the taxi picks you up at DeGaulle International it can emit like crazy to build up enough air to get you though the no-polluting zone in the Paris city centre.

What can you expect? The country that inflicted Citroen and Renault on the world.

John

(I prefer to think of Bugatti as Swiss, thank you very much. And Delahaye, they made so few cars certainly they are the exception that proves the rule.)

[randall]

you forgot peugeot...owned a 504 once (didnt buy it but got it passed down from my brother)...what an engineering marvel.....the dipstick was under a mesh oil filter so checking it involved an oil bath for your hands and clothes....there were a lot of little annoyances but my favorite was there were no holes in the center of the wheels ...so the tires had to be changed by hand like it was 1925.....french engineering....oxymoron if i ever heard one

[Carl]

I don't care what you think of French engineering...they make the BEST Toast, and don't forget about those Fries, and the Kissing. They have plenty to be proud of, I wouldn't hold a couple little car boo-boo's over their head. Hell, we made the Gremlin.

[John F.]

At least its not ethanol powered................

[Sean B]

Ultimately this isn't much different than the electric car, in terms of the concept that it doesn't pollute.

Instead of batteries holding the energy you have an air tank.

Unless you live near the Hoover Dam or a nuke power plant, either one gets its energy from the coal burned to create the electricity, used to either charge the batteries, or to run the air compressor to charge the air tank.

So I suppose the question is: is it better to burn the coal to get the energy for your car, or is it better to just burn fossil fuel in the car as usual?

I vote for blow-and-go

[ScottD]

Don't forget France is a leader in nuclear power, around 80% so charging/pressurizing will emit little emissions. (a lot of radioactive baggage though) Nuclear power is also the direction the U.S. is now heading as well. If the thing works, great, but I'm waiting on the Chevy VOLT.

ScottD

[CMP]

Mustangs have a loud roar, Porsches, a throaty growl. I bet these frogmobiles sound like a popcorn fart. PFFFFTTTT...

CMP