Say Anything Blog

1) You could get 100 miles out of a few bucks?  Color me very skeptical…

2) Can they keep it from sounding like an air gun driving down the road? PVVVVVVVVVVVVVV!!!!

I think Rob hates me… I mean, just look at the pic he took of me!

If this was inexpensive enough I would consider it.  It would be interesting if they could build in a backup combustion engine for emergencies or until air compressors become common.

What drives the compressors?  Gasoline?  Electricity?  Coal?  Does this make economic sense without massive subsidies?  Generally speaking, it is more efficient to use the gasoline directly to run the car than it is to use it to power some other means of generating power, which is then used to drive the car.  Color me very skeptical, as well.

"If the good men are silent only the wicked are heard.” - Edmund Burke

It would be interesting if they could build in a backup combustion engine for emergencies

That’d be very expensive, not to mention add a lot of weight, just for “emergencies”.  As small electric engine of some kind would be far more practical.  Or, like all cars today, if you have “emergencies” you could call a tow truck

I think Rob hates me… I mean, just look at the pic he took of me!

I did a little research while the site was down.  Apparently they’re working on a hybrid engine that would work on Compressed air as well as gasoline (like) fuels. 

Interesting but I’d rather they keep it simple.  It says it comes with it’s own compressor so that it will recharge in a few hours. 

Cost effectiveness would come from being cheap to purchase and using off peak electricity to recharge IMO. 

I see this being a much better technology than hybrids or electric cars.

The Debate is over!  Global Whining has been confirmed.

TW: I assume this compressed air engine doesn’t have a lot of torque, and thus must be small and light.  Adding weight, in the form of another engine to run an onboard compressor might make it impractical, especially in terms of ability to carry a payload.  It is also unreasonable to expect people to own a separate car simply for urban transport, while needing a real car for the rest of their needs.  It all smells like draconian govt regulation to me.  Once again, it takes a form of energy to compress the air, so we are back to that “energy conversion” problem again, just like with electric cars.  I guess if we can build the necessary powerplants, that takes care of one part of the problem, though.  Think the enviroextremists will go for that?

"If the good men are silent only the wicked are heard.” - Edmund Burke

Well I was guessing that the costs would be low enough that this might make it in the free market. 

It looked like it will cost 3500-5000 Euro’s.  If the operating costs are low enough people might be willing to have a commuting car. 

As far as power plants I see them being recharged with off-peak power. Again the private market should be able to do this.  Plug it in when you get home and when the power company has the capacity the outlet turns on.  We already do that with electric heat.  (The idea was implemented by a Grand Forks native).

I could see people using this kind of car for a second or third car or maybe if you didn’t leave the city often you’d rent when you needed something larger.  Plus it could work well in the developing world which would take pressure off of the petroleum market which would help us.

But if it’s a good idea then the market will embrace it.

The Debate is over!  Global Whining has been confirmed.

It is also unreasonable to expect people to own a separate car simply for urban transport, while needing a real car for the rest of their needs.

That’s not really true, many people own more than one vehicle and many people that own multiple vehicles, those that live in the city anyway, own one or more that never really leaves the city.

Personally, I have two cars.  One goes back and forth to work (5 miles) and never anything else, except random trips to the liquor store...... ::eh hem:: But we always use my wife’s SUV for traveling and shopping etc.

Were it really much cheaper to operate in the long term, I can see this working out very well.

I think Rob hates me… I mean, just look at the pic he took of me!

Sphag: Your choice, not everyone’s.  I doubt that there is any cost saving at all with this scheme.  It ignores the conservation of matter an energy, for one thing.  It’s just more enviro “pie in the sky”, IMO.

"If the good men are silent only the wicked are heard.” - Edmund Burke

Sphag: Your choice, not everyone’s.

Lol, of course… Just was stating that there are many like me.  I’d venture to say most, over 50%, of cityfolk in america have one car that isn’t used for anything but short non-load-bearing trips.  But that’s just a guess.

I think Rob hates me… I mean, just look at the pic he took of me!

But that’s just a guess.

Where I live, it’s very rare.  People who have more than one car usually have real ones, not commuter “rollerskates”.  In any case, this whole “alternative transportation” scheme is dependent, like most collectivist ideas, on mandates.  That’s the next step.  Govt confiscated taxpayer money is at work here, not the market.

"If the good men are silent only the wicked are heard.” - Edmund Burke

but you’re setting up a straw-man.  The point of the post was to point to an interesting, and possibly viable, alternative mode of transportation.  It’s something that’s on the open market in India and has nothing to do with government mandates.  Why rail against government mandates when there are none?

It’s an interesting idea, from an economical and engineering perspective, one worth taking the time to read about.  No point in railing against the government when no one is talking about such.

I think Rob hates me… I mean, just look at the pic he took of me!

Sphag: Good point, but India has a free enterprise economic system that is saddled with a socialist govt, so who knows what is going on with this?  My main point is about layers of energy usage, as opposed to burning the fuel directly for transportation.  It just screams “inefficiency”, but if it is really viable, it will go on the market.

"If the good men are silent only the wicked are heard.” - Edmund Burke

This is nothing new.  In high school I knew someone who build a go-kart that was powered by compressed air for a science project.  It works the same way as a air wrench.

The biggest challenge is the thickness (and weight) of the air tank to hold the extremely high pressure.

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In high school I knew someone who build a go-kart that was powered by compressed air for a science project.

Did that predate Hero of Alexandria?

Nobody said it was a new concept.

It sounded like they would have to store the air at very high pressures to make it viable.

The Debate is over!  Global Whining has been confirmed.

That is a great idea. BUT why do they always make these kinds of cars so ugly? Like the Toyota hybrid Prius?? Ugy!

90 cu meters is 3178 cu ft. A standard steel oxygen tank like a welder uses is 300 cu ft. The wall thickness on a fiberglass cylinder is much thicker it would take 11 standard 300 cu ft cylinders with thicker walls just for storage. I doubt their air motor will operate on less than 100 psi with any efficiency at all so you’ll have a lot of air in storage that isn’t usable. I’m a scuba diver and have a compressor at 5 cfm my house and a bigger one on my boat. The one on my boat is 15 cfm and it has a 20 hp electric motor on it. It would take at least 20 minutes to fill each tank so nearly four hours total to fill that ugly-assed car. I doubt their cost estimates are even close and I also doubt their range estimates. If you’ve ever seen a high pressure gas cylinder burst you wouldn’t want to be sitting on top of one, much less 10 or 11 of them. 

I debunked this story about 4 years ago but it keeps popping up. I’m not saying it won’t work, I am willing to say it’s very dangerous and extremely innefficient. If you get the range they promise at the price they promise it’ll be a miracle and it’ll have break several laws of physics in the process.

If you get the range they promise at the price they promise it’ll be a miracle and it’ll have break several laws of physics in the process.

According to their website, they have done on-road tests that verify their results. 

If you’ve ever seen a high pressure gas cylinder burst you wouldn’t want to be sitting on top of one, much less 10 or 11 of them.

That’s the thing I wondered about more.  What happens when two of these cars collide? BOOM!  lol

I think Rob hates me… I mean, just look at the pic he took of me!

Compressed air?? Those cars blow!

Those who think the party or the country, will be “taught a lesson” by handing the levers of power over to the liberals will learn a lesson, but it will be at the expense of our country and her liberties. And there are no guarantees that the party or the country will come out stronger, more conservative or better positioned to win elections against the incumbent liberals.

Where’s the earth shattering Kaboom?

I was wondering if there wasn’t something to their carbon fiber tanks that would keep it from exploding.

BTW any one see the Mythbusters episode when they failed to get a scuba tank to blow up with a 30-06.

The Debate is over!  Global Whining has been confirmed.

Thats an interesting concept… I have a hard time believing that it is really that efficient.
What about the energy needed to run the compressors at the filling station?
You must need a very highly pressurized tank of air to run a car at 68 MPH!

But, if I am wrong, and it wouldn’t be the first time… It IS about time for an alternative.

Jeff