Important: The following is a text only archive!
For full features; Go to Air Powered Car
I think there was already a thread about this somewhere, but I can't find
it so I'll post it up:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4251491.html?series=19<
br />
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-A3XHFT5qc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq8aZVLpf-c
Summary:
Tata motors already has plans for producing these cars for India, and in a
year or two, North America. The car has a range of up to 1,000 miles, and
it costs about $5 to fill it up, and all this for under $20,000.
Unfortunately, they look terrible.
From the Youtube Videos:
There's two engine designs; the one made in France is like a typical
internal combustion engine, but instead of fuel and air, it's just air
being forced into the cylinder to push down on it. In the vid, it sounds
pretty loud, and looked slow. They also have a gasoline fuel tank in there,
and for longer trips, it would run the engine very lean and get very good
efficiency. The engine is 80% aluminum, so if the combustions get too big
(above like 650*C), the block will melt.
The 2nd vid is from Australia, and the engine is similar to a rotary
engine, only weighs 13kg, and has no transmission. The guy has put the
engine in go-karts, little trollies, and cars. They show a vid of a go-kart
running on compressed air towing a full sized car, but just barely. If
that's the same engine that goes into the car, it would probably be very
slow. The guy is working on a 6kg engine.
It looks like a good concept, but I don't see it getting off the ground.
Most major companies have already spent millions of dollars researching
hydrogen fuel cells and electric vehicles, so they'll just ignore this.
Opinions?
EDIT: Those vids are like 2 years old, so things would have changed by
then...
Here is a more recent video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoWFvm1sdf4 -- this is basically an update
to the first video (the French car).
chris_knows
If you were paying attention to that video, the hybrid version contains a
petrol powered air compressor which continuously fill up the tanks with
compressed air. The engine still runs on air but you get much more
mileage. Imo this is much more convenient and efficient than the electric
hybrids(if you can live with going under 70mph) and you don't get the
problem of the battery fading over time.
As it still uses a piston/rotary engine I wonder how they keep the
crankshaft/rotor lubricated. Does the engine still require oil or does it
use compressed air to prevent metal to metal contact?
fudge
My bad, I must've spaced out for a bit in that video. They say the rotary
one rides on a cushion of air, so I'm not sure if lubrication is necessary,
but then if there was any lube, would it have to be oil? Actually, why do
cars use oil for lube instead of something else (like grease)?
chris_knows
