Air-Powered Car Coming to U.S. in 2009 to 2010

[B Calm]

at Sub-$18,000, Could Hit 1000-Mile Range.

The Air Car caused a huge stir when we reported last year that Tata Motors would begin producing it in India. Now the little gas-free ride that could is headed Stateside in a big-time way.

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.”

Those figures would make the Air Car, along with Aptera’s Typ-1 and Tesla’s Roadster, a favorite among early entrants for the Automotive X Prize, for which MDI and ZPM have already signed up. But with the family-size, four-door CityCAT undergoing standard safety tests in Europe, then side-impact tests once it arrives in the States, could it be the first 100-mpg, nonelectric car you can actually buy?



http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4251491.html

[SoCalDem]

1. A toy for rich folks..

Until the OLD cars that us poor folks have to hang onto forever are dead and gone, it's a bandaid..

The new car market always has nifty new ones offered, but the majority of people, out here at least, are driving their cars until they are beyond repair...often in the 200K mi and up..

They (we) are the ones who don't HAVE $20K to plonk down at a dealership..

[Ian David]

7. $18,000 is not a toy for rich folks. That's in line with a typical commuter vehicle.

Then again, if everything collapses in a couple months, there might not be anyone left with $20,000 in cash or available credit.

[SoCalDem]

15. If you are worried about where you will get the money to pay for gas & electricity

and the mortgage..and worried about losing your job, buying ANY new car is off the table...and many people are in debt up to their eyeballs already...

Out here, there are loads of people who are driving 15 yr old cars and trading them in for 12yr old cars..that;s their version of a "new car"..

[jmowreader]

17. It's a second car at best

No one, except MAYBE people who don't ever go out of town, could rely on this as a primary vehicle.

Most of us don't have a "commuter car" and a "long trip car." We have one car, or maybe a car and a pickup for lumberyard runs. This will sell to people who have three or four other cars already.

If you want a car like that, ZENN sells their neighborhood cars (25mph top speed, 30 mile range) for around $12,000, and they plug directly into the wall--which follows my dictum that if you're going to use electricity to power a car somehow (which is what both compressed air cars and hydrogen cars ultimately do), you should just put a big battery in the car and run the car directly from it.

[Ian David]

24. The furthest I usually drive in one day is from Boston to Philadelphia.

A 1,000 mile range is just fine.

Especially if you can exchange empty compressed air canisters at gas stations.

Or "re-fuel" at a hardware store.

[defendandprotect]

32. Right -- we can subsidize manufacture and purchase . . . .

and what we'd save in WARS and health costs would be phenomenal ---

and we'd also be creating a lot of jobs ---

think just of all the gas-guzzlers we could crush !!!

[newmajority]

36. No, that would be the Tesla Roadster

Electric car that's priced like a goddamned Ferrari. :evilfrown:

[old mark]

2. Maybe the Feds should give tax incentives and rebates to help

buyers for these cars - they did a lot of that for the SUV's.

mark

[paparush]

21. Then HOW would we pay for our oil wars?

and bailout the banks (while ensuring the CEO's get to keep their multi-million dollar bonuses)?

:sarcasm:

[Deja Q]

3. Sounds like a bag of hot air to me...

Never mind gas stations will yank their 'free air' pumps...

[Indenturedebtor]

4. That's exactly the benefit my friend.

All you have to do is tune in to Rush Limpballs and you can drive forever :P

I trust popular mechanics when it comes to cars.

[Ian David]

9. You buy a solar powered air pump for your home. n/t

[Angleae]

35. Free air?

Not around, all of them I see are coin operated.

[madrchsod]

5. it`s a scam

it`s not possible to run a car on air...

[Ian David]

8. Not a scam. I've seen them. I've even gotten a ride in a vehicle powered by compressed air..

It was called a "forklift."

[immoderate]

12. I'm skeptical.

I haven't found anything on the web that says these cars will go more than three miles.

--IMM

[Edweird]

18. That's a propane tank. not air.

Sorry.

[Ian David]

25. You're right. The forklift *is* compressed natural gas, not air. n/t

[Marblehead]

6. I would buy one

no batteries to pollute the environment

[Ian David]

10. The only "pollution" might be the noise pollution from all your neighbors running air compressors.nt

[LaurenG]

11. I would buy an air compressor now so I can fill up my future car

but we all know there will be a "special" compressor that costs $800 a month that one can only rent and each fill up is $1000 dollars, because you know we don't have any air reserves and the air refineries are at full capacity not to mention the f-ing air drilling rights in Alaska we must fight through! :sarcasm:.

[IDemo]

13. Yes, it will take a special compressor

Air cars store air at around the same pressure as scuba tanks, around 300 bar (or 4350 psi), so a filling station pump won't cut it. Nor will any of the pumps available from Home Depot or Lowes. But you can buy one of these for $2,850.00 -

http://www.northshorecompressor.com/brochures/Nardi%20Brochure.pdf

-- edit - the car actually does contain a built in compressor, but it takes 4 hours for a refill.

[LaurenG]

14. Thanks for the information!

:hi:

[onehandle]

16. Not if I get my perpetual motion machine running first.

Now let's see... connect this... wind this... cross the streams...

Aaaggh! Black Hole!! ahhhaaaaaaaa......................... *

[Romulox]

19. There's no perpetual motion here; you need energy to compress the air

Though I admit that at least one poster upthread seems confused on this point.

[mmonk]

20. Years ago, I looked at the air car and thought it might not make

it due to speed and seating capacity. Looks like they are taking care of that problem.

[Juche]

22. Sweet

Considering that you will save $100-150/month in lower fuel costs that $18k price is not too bad.

I know we have to start somewhere, but personally I am wary of first generation technology. When I do buy an alternative vehicle, it will probably be a gently used 2nd generation model (aka, sometime in 2016 or so).

The Loremo should come out in 2010 also at 13k. Due to better building materials and aerodynamics it can go 70-150 mpg.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/02/loremo_ag_157_m.php


I can't wait to see the cars at the end of the 2010 decade. That is when all this tech will be advanced. It seems like 2009-2010 is the break in point; that is when PHEVs, aerodynamic/composite cars, air cars, hydrogen cars, etc. start hitting the streets. But it'll take a few years to get the technology working better after that.

[taterguy]

23. How will I save 100 bucks a month on gas?

When I currently spend about 10 bucks a month on gas?

[briv1016]

26. How do you compress the air?

You can't just magically create kinetic energy. It has to come from somewhere.

[Marblehead]

27. electricity n/t

[briv1016]

28. And how do you create the electricity?

[exothermic]

30. With an air-powered generator.

See? It's perfect and it's over 100% efficient! :bounce:

[Juche]

38. On the grid

But because coal plants have a higher efficiency than internal combustion engines (around 40% vs 20%) you get 2x more energy per ton of CO2 via coal than internal combustion. So even if you are using coal plants to power the homes that recharge these cars you are still getting less greenhouse gases.

And aside from that about 30% of the grid is not CO2 polluting. 30% comes from nuclear, renewables and hydroelectric. Plus with agendas like the 25 by 25, or with personal solar panels at home you can have a totally non-polluting car engine.

[exothermic]

29. That "car" is beyond P.T. Barnum's wildest wet dream.

It even has some DUers drooling.
:eyes:

[Juche]

37. What is wrong with it

Oh wise one, tell us what is wrong with this concept. You get electricity from the grid or from home solar to compress air to run your car on. Where is the perpetual motion?

[exothermic]

43. I didn't say it was perpetual motion...I am saying it's idiotically inefficient.

It adds 2 more energy-conversion steps above what's used in an IC engine.

[Juche]

47. IC engines are only 20% efficient

The rest is wasted as heat and friction. I don't know what the efficiency of air cars is, but it is claimed that it can get 125 miles on $2 worth of electricity, which works out to over 260 miles on the equivalent of the price of a gallon of gas since gas is $4.15 now.

So its a good way to save money, if you drive 1000 miles a month it may only cost $15-20 in electricity.


http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4217016.html

Barring any last-minute design changes on the way to production, the Air Car should be surprisingly practical. The $12,700 CityCAT, one of a handful of planned Air Car models, can hit 68 mph and has a range of 125 miles. It will take only a few minutes for the CityCAT to refuel at gas stations equipped with custom air compressor units; MDI says it should cost around $2 to fill the car’s carbon-fiber tanks with 340 liters of air at 4350 psi. Drivers also will be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car’s built-in compressor to refill the tanks in about 4 hours.

[exothermic]

50. Even if that's true, it's still a Rube Goldberg approach to an engineering problem.

Why waste the energy to compress and decompress air when you could bypass that step and run an electric motor? It's just nuts. (The efficiency of a real-world Carnot cycle heat engine is "relatively" high but yet is still piss-poor...largely because it cannot operate like the idealized adiabatic model that yields the thermodynamic equations)

[Juche]

51. Battery technology isn't good enough yet

The Chevy Volt will cost about 40k, the MDI air car may cost 18k or less. Not only that but the range of the MDI may be 100+ miles, the range of the Volt will only be 40 miles on electric. You will get better range and lower cost with air compression vs electric battery autos.

[Trillo]

31. Step right up and get your air-powered car that gets ~75-100 MPG gasoline!

On sale soon, only $17+grand plus!

"zero pollution motors"!

[defendandprotect]

33. Toyota is offering to repurchase ANY Prius at the original price .....

because they can't meet the demand for them ---

Can you imagine the DEMAND for this . . . !!! ???

[defendandprotect]

34. ExxonMobil is probably looking to buy a nuclear weapon to drop on India . . .

[tjwash]

39. hoist the mainsail jimmy, we're going on the freeway!

[Vinca]

40. Wow - I could fill my car up with the air compressor in the garage.

That's the car I'm waiting for.

[IDemo]

41. See post #13

[Vinca]

44. $2,850 would be a worthwhile investment over time. nt

[IDemo]

42. The Air Car is less than half as efficient as an electric car.

While you may save money on the initial cost of carbon fiber air storage tanks versus Lithium-Ion batteries, the energy efficiency of a battery-electric vehicle is much better.

http://assortedtips.blogspot.com/2008/02/air-car.html

http://www.efcf.com/reports/E18.pdf

[dems_rightnow]

45. If that's real

I'm getting one for sure.

[iamthebandfanman]

46. and nobody will buy it

because its 'ugly'

wait n see.

us americans sure do care about appearance alot.

itll be interesting to see if that doesnt matter now that gas is so expensive.

[tjwash]

48. Americans won't buy it because it aint big

We like em big. Big RV's, big pick ups, big ass ugly mcmansions.

A think a lot of us are compensating for something...

[fascisthunter]

49. Good First Steps