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Air Powered Car: "Coming in 2010"

by jordan | August 28, 2008 at 11:07 am | 64 views | add comment | 0 recommendations

Wouldn't it be nice to have a car that runs on compressed air? The air pressure would replace compustion in driving the engine's pistons, and you'd have a car that's mean and clean. One company claims to be able to deliver on this promise within two years. The "106 mpg" bit refers to its equivalen mileage if it were a fossil-fuel-consuming vehicle.

Pro

Air can be compressed using power from the grid, which has cleaner emissions than normal cars and can come from renewable energy sources.

Air cars could be filled up at home or on the road. Unlike electric cars, air cars could fill up more quickly and therefore get the necessary range boosts for long trips.

Air cars can be hybrids, just like gasoline vehicles, for range-extension.

Con

There are still a lot of questions about the safety of carrying around large amounts of highly compressed air.

Unlike electric cars, air cars still have a lot of moving parts that could fail.

They are untested on the large scale

I know this sounds bad, but I really like the smell of garages: oil, fuel and dirt. Still, it'd be kind of cool to not need traditional filling stations anymore.

With all of these alt-fuel concepts, the real challenge isn't the vehicle itself, but in the refueling and maintenance infrastructure: how does one make sure that there's enough compressed air on hand where drivers will need it most? The beauty of that particular propellant, though, is that no fuels must be transported: compressors can just live in sitiu, ready and waiting for "asphyxiating" cars limping in for a refill, or a lungful.