What is this?

Will it be the next big thing?
Tata Motors of India thinks so.
What will the Oil Companies do to stop it?

It is an auto engine that runs on air. That's right; air not gas or diesel or electric but just the air around us. Take a look.




Tata Motors of India has scheduled the Air Car to hit Indian streets by August 2012



The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy N. For Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air to push its engine's pistons and make the car go.

The Air Car, called the "Mini CAT" could cost around 365,757 rupees in India or $8,177 US.

The Mini CAT which is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis, a body of fibreglass that is glued not welded and powered by compressed air. A Microprocessor is used to control all electrical functions of the car. One tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, turn signals and every other electrical device on the car. Which are not many.

The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0-15 degrees below zero, which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power.

There are no keys, just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees per 100 KM, that's about a tenth the cost of a car running on gas. It's mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car, a factor which makes it a perfect choice for city motorists. The car has a top speed of 105 KM per hour or 60 mph and would have a range of around 300 km or 185 miles between refuels. Refilling the car will take place at adapted gas stations with special air compressors. A fill up will only take two to three minutes and costs approximately 100 rupees and the car will be ready to go another 300 kilometres.

This car can also be filled at home with it's on board compressor. It will take 3-4 hours to refill the tank, but it can be done while you sleep.

Because there is no combustion engine, changing the 1 litre of vegetable oil is only necessary every 50,000 KM or 30,000 miles. Due to its simplicity, there is very little maintenance to be done on this car.

This Air Car almost sounds too good to be true. We'll see in August. 2012

I predict Top Gear will review it and pronounce it rubbish.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

185 miles between fill-ups would be phenomenal. Previous stories I've read on this type of car didn't report figures that good IIRC. The hype around this system often includes the words "zero emissions" or "zero pollution." Won't be any cleaner that whatever means were used to power the air compressor. But the efficiencies of a stationary elec. plant, especially in terms of dealing with pollutants, are bound to be superior to a mobile ICE.

*EDIT* More I read about these, the better they sound. Seems like compressed air could be a less problematic and more efficient storage device than batteries. I'm wondering how loud they are when compressing as that can be noisy. Maybe one could charge them in the early evening before bedtime.

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

It is rubbish on a good day. It takes ENERGY to make compressed air. Just go to any factory and you will find out that compressed air is a big expense. It certainly is where I work.

Old technology. Didn't work then and it won't work now.

Draw-backs include, do they mention the "plug-in at home compressor" needs to develop 3000 p.s.i.? Not exactly a unit which anyone has just laying about. They might have lowered the usable p.s.i. by now but I doubt it.

For some reason, people didn't particularly care for sitting on top of 2 fiberglass tanks of extremely compressed air.

In order to make the vehicle efficient it weighed about as much as a chili fart. Not exactly what you'd want to be in in the case of a collision. The car I mean, I don't think anyone wants to be in the presence of a chili fart at ANY time.

Promoted by TaTa of India? THAT'S enough right there to give me the screaming heebie-jeebies.

How inefficient!!!!!!!! Just run the damn car on the electric motor that is compressing the air.

The future of Formula One

There might be a market for this. Some people actually buy the Smart ( Smug) car, and this looks to be least as good an idea as that.
Not for everyone. Not for me.

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

there are some advantages to air over straight electric, for example batteries have a life and maintainance cost. The air car has a lot of merit for local commutes. 3000PSI compression is not that difficult, they do it all the time in home medical for oxygen cylinders. the drawbacks are the topspeed and range, while there is some recycling of the thermal energy the compression and subsequent decompression are not the most efficient energy transfer methods. however the low cost and high energy storage of the simple air medium gives a lot of cost advantages in maintainance and simplicity, there was a french design that was supposed to be released last year and there is an australian air motor that is already used in manufacturing facility vehicles, but I dont know if they were able to make the jump to over the road vehicles yet

__________________

1982 300CD Turbo (Otis, "ups & downs") parts for sale
2003 TJ with Hemi (to go anywhere, quickly) sold
2001 Excursion Powerstroke (to go dependably)
1970 Mustang 428SCJ (to go fast)
1962 Corvette LS1 (to go in style)
2001 Schwinn Grape Krate 10spd (if all else fails)

3000 psi might not be difficult for a commercial refilling facility but a home unit is a different animal.

I can see their use in the manufacturing facilities especially where you already have the compressed air available but I don't think it'll fly in the normal driver category.

What's next? Steam power?

the home fill oxygen units go to 3000PSI no problem, they use the same compressor running 40PSI to drive a huge piston which in turns drives a very small piston to 3000PSI, it takes about 5 hours to fill with 40PSI 2.5CFM, but a bigger compressor would work much faster and still be no issue in the home.

__________________

1982 300CD Turbo (Otis, "ups & downs") parts for sale
2003 TJ with Hemi (to go anywhere, quickly) sold
2001 Excursion Powerstroke (to go dependably)
1970 Mustang 428SCJ (to go fast)
1962 Corvette LS1 (to go in style)
2001 Schwinn Grape Krate 10spd (if all else fails)

The real issue is how safe it is in a crash, and whether or not it can get out of it's own way, let alone avoid the collision.

Batteries will always be more toxic than a traditional automobile; a used efficient car is the best way to keep your carbon footprint down aside from public transit.

__________________
_______________________________________________

1987 560SEL (210,000 miles)

Steam would be worth a look, IMO.

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Oh, those pesky details! I suppose these folks have not done any investigation into the cost of compressing air. It is NOT cheap and the equipment to compress it is not cheap.

As they say, the devil's in the details.

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Here is steam power.....1925...very advanced for the time.

1925 Doble Series E Steam Car - Video - Jay Leno's Garage