EV's are so last season. Those of you into the latest and greatest clean energy technologies need to get yourself a car that runs on compressed air.
The idea of an air powered car has been around for a while but the technology is incredibly difficult to master. Indian car company Tata Motors is developing its Airpod as a next generation, zero pollution vehicle.
The Luxembourgian engine manufacturing company, MDI, has been working on a motor that can run on nothing more than compressed air for over twenty years, and five years ago Tata bought the rights to sell this motor in India. In May the company confirmed that it had successfully completed stage one by testing out the engines in two different vehicles.
The car has space for three passengers, and can travel at 40mph. The tank holds 175 litres of compressed air which can be bought from a specialist station, or taken from the air by activating an on-board electric pump. Tata claim that filling the tank will cost only €1 and then last for about 125 miles.
By. James Burgess of Oilprice.com
James Burgess studied Business Management at the University of Nottingham. He has worked in property development, chartered surveying, marketing, law, and accounts. He has also… More
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Also, consideration of some basic thermodynamics would reveal the flaws in the design - as someone has pointed out, the pressure required to provide the advertised mileage and speed would be incredibly high. Coupled with the losses of pumping air into the tank in the first place (and the power source required for that pump), the cooling of the air as it is used in the engine, and the losses in the engine, this solution is much less efficient than electric cars (when the entire system is considered).
Finally, the last paragraph seems to have been copied from some press release without any thought as to its plausibility - what powers this on-board compressor? Batteries? An internal combustion engine? What is the sense in that? It's just adding an extra transfer of energy between storage media, with extra losses.
Do a web search for NO2 tank explosions for reference.
This sounds a much simpler approach compared to what many are doing to maximize energy savings on transportation and preserve the environment. Love the good news.
For cooler climes (think midwest and northeast United States in Winter) you would need an alternate source of heat to keep the passenger compartment warm. Probably something akin to a space heater, although it would probably have to be propane, as electricity would be at a premium in such a car and electrical generation would greatly reduce mileage.
Love the idea though. If they can get the speed up to 50, and keep the range, this might represent a "commuter" car for the United States!