Air-Powered Car Coming to U.S. in 2009 to 2010 at Sub-$18,000, Could Hit 1000-Mile Range

[Skip Intro]

:shrug:




http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4251491.html?series=19

Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) confirmed to PopularMechanics.com on Thursday that it expects to produce the world’s first air-powered car for the United States by late 2009 or early 2010. As the U.S. licensee for Luxembourg-based MDI, which developed the Air Car as a compression-based alternative to the internal combustion engine, ZPM has attained rights to build the first of several modular plants, which are likely to begin manufacturing in the Northeast and grow for regional production around the country, at a clip of up to 10,000 Air Cars per year.

And while ZPM is also licensed to build MDI’s two-seater OneCAT economy model (the one headed for India) and three-seat MiniCAT (like a SmartForTwo without the gas), the New Paltz, N.Y., startup is aiming bigger: 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 (pictured above) that, thanks to an even more radical engine, is said to travel as far as 1000 miles at up to 96 mph with each tiny fill-up.

We’ll believe that when we drive it, but MDI’s new dual-energy engine—currently being installed in models at MDI facilities overseas—is still pretty damn cool in concept. After using compressed air fed from the same Airbus-built tanks in earlier models to run its pistons, the next-gen Air Car has a supplemental energy source to kick in north of 35 mph, ZPM says. A custom heating chamber heats the air in a process officials refused to elaborate upon, though they insisted it would increase volume and thus the car’s range and speed.

“I want to stress that these are estimates, and that we’ll know soon more precisely from our engineers,” ZPM spokesman Kevin Haydon told PM, “but a vehicle with one tank of air and, say, 8 gal. of either conventional petrol, ethanol or biofuel could hit between 800 and 1000 miles.”

[BlooInBloo]

1. lolol! I love these "magic energy source" headlines!

:rofl:

I'm holding out for the magic pony car, personally.


EDIT: Subject typo.

[Richard Steele]

24. You should try reading a few sentences past them sometime. nm

[silverweb]

2. Good news!

I've been watching the MDI for a long time and if I ever buy another car again, this will probably be it.

[sarcasmo]

3. I want a magic carpet ride.

[Botany]

4. Kinda like the VW's "Fart - a - pushin'"

So how does the compressed air get into the car?

[pt22]

5. You run a hose to it from the TV set. The hot air from the car's commercial runs it.

:eyes:

[robinlynne]

8. tanks of compressed air. They are already building them in Europe. There was a

documentary about them and their creator on pbs last month.

[emmadoggy]

14. Here you go...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4

I believe they are making a few adjustments at Zero Pollution Motors, but this is the company (MDI) who developed it and is contracting with ZPM to build them here in the U.S.

[pt22]

6. Free air! Cool! (hot, actually, after it's compressed with free energy)

...

[eppur_se_muova]

7. So they're claiming MAYBE 100-125 mpg ...

**NOT** counting the energy used to fill the air tank from the pump. That's probably not an unreasonable expectation for shorter commutes, but it doesn't tell us what the TOTAL energy consumption is for that travel -- and that determines the carbon footprint. If the energy to run the pump comes from a carbon-neutral source, this could have less than half the carbon footprint of a more conventional compact car. These claims are *NOT* that outlandish -- it is simply a question of whether the conditions necessary to achieve that performance (i.e. non-fossil fuel energy source for compressed air) can be met. And that is more a question of infrastructure than something over which they have any control.

I'm not sure why people are expressing such scepticism. This is basically a rechargable hybrid -- only the "charge" is compressed air, not electricity. The concept is very similar, and the mileage expectations should be as well.

Be sure to read what they are actually claiming, before offering informed criticism.

[robinlynne]

9. I saw a documentary on pbs about this car. They are currently working on

ways to compress the air without using a lot of energy to do it. I can't remember what tehir solution to that is, but it was disucssed in the documentary.

[anigbrowl]

19. Well the laws of physics impose some hard limits on that

Not that I don't think the whole compressed air car thing isn't a good idea, but there's no magic trick you can use to reduce the basic energy required to compress large volumes of air.

[old mark]

21. Be interesting to see this. The problem with Hydrogen

power is the same-it takes more energy to extract the hydrogen from air, and then compress it, than is released. in the H2 conversion. It moves the polution from the car to the hydrogen processing plant for a net loss.

mark

[pt22]

10. But an air cycle is only about 20% as efficient as an electric motor.

And right now the only feasible non-fossil energy source to compress the air is nuclear.

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Are you including charging and transmission efficiency ?

If you're only looking at the motor, that's only part of the cycle.

Or by "air cycle" do you mean a thermodynamic cycle, rather than the whole fuel-to-travel path? (Can't tell whether you're talking economics or engineering ...)

[pt22]

26. The thermo cycle but yes including the compression.

We're talking a -very long- way from adiabatic here...

[LeftyMom]

11. Also, the compressors could be run at night,

when a lot of electricity on the grid just goes to waste, so the added electrical draw probably wouldn't be huge in it's impact.

If this thing works anything close to how they say it will, it would be perfect for my needs.

Starting with the 6 passenger family vehicle is a good idea- there really aren't any high efficiency options in the US big enough to seat a family comfortably without being over-large and thus still bad on gas.

[Occulus]

20. "when a lot of electricity on the grid just goes to waste"

How much energy/money would we save as a nation if parking lots for businesses were unlit?

How much energy/money would we save as a nation if every superstore were dark after close of business?

[FogerRox]

23. Sure. But if you have your own air pump at home

to recharge the vehicle overnight...... you will need a new electrical service to your house. 100 or 200 amps will not be enough.


The real issue here is, is the total carbon/energy footprint roughly the equivalent of the current hybrids ? If so, an air car removes the issues of Li-poly manufacturing process, & then the Li-poly battery recycling.

[Botany]

13. Sorry

"Be sure to read what they are actually claiming, before offering informed criticism."

I never offer informed criticism :rofl:

[eppur_se_muova]

17. Back! Back to GD:P with you!

:evilgrin:

[emmadoggy]

15. I'm not much of a mechanical wiz, but

per this video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4

the original concept was to have a small gas tank which would power an on-board compressor to refill the tanks on the fly. Otherwise, the compressor could be plugged in at home to refill the tanks.

I believe that ZPM is changing that a bit....here is their explanation of how it works...

http://zeropollutionmotors.us/?page_id=38

It's not ENTIRELY pollution free, but the lowest emission vehicle available now or in the near future.

[emmadoggy]

16. I first heard about these several months ago and I think it is a very

exciting and promising concept. I'm keeping my eye on the development and would be thrilled to own one eventually.

If the price targets stay where they are saying, that would be a huge boon, as well.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

18. This is like an electric car - without the heavy batteries

Electricity is used to compress the air in the tanks. Instead of electrical energy being stored in heavy batteries, the energy is transferred to the form of compressed air, held in light-weight storage tanks. I think it's an interesting idea. And the air then is released into an engine not unlike an internal combustion engine, but without combustion. It has pistons in the engine, like an internal combustion engine. And the internal combustion engine that you and I drive runs on air already. Except that the air that operates our present day cars is mixed with gasoline in the carburetor or fuel injectors and burned. Not with this car.

This is an interesting concept of a hybrid between an electric and a regular car. I think it might have real promise. Hopefully it will meet U.S. safety standards.

[Fumesucker]

22. When you compress air, it heats up..

When that heat dissipates, the energy is lost for further use.

A built in inefficiency of air powered machinery.

I've used air powered tools a lot, they are nice because they don't get hot like electric power tools but they are inefficient as all get out, it takes a largish compressor to run even fairly small air tools continually.

I don't see any way air power can possibly be as efficient as a decent battery/charger/motor setup.

[FogerRox]

25. Build them, then run them against hybrids

100's of thousands of people have bought Hybrids in the US, we have a base of experience there. If the air car is as good as they say, I'll give it 3 years, then it'll be spreading like wildfire.

Until then, I remain skeptical.

[rurallib]

27. And there is this entry from Australia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq8aZVLpf-c