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The Air Car - will it succeed, or is it a lot of hot air?

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    The Air Car - will it succeed, or is it a lot of hot air?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2281011.stm

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/new...news=1&bbcws=1

    Engineers in France believe they have come up with the answer that environmentalists and economists have spent years searching for: a commercially viable, non-polluting car, which costs next to nothing to run.
    The latest prototype will be unveiled on Thursday at the Paris motor show.

    Like everything else about this vehicle, it all sounds impossible.

    When we went to the company's factory-cum-design shop just outside Nice in the South of France a black blanket was put between us and it.

    But we were told it has a steering wheel in the middle, with passenger seats either side, a boot the size of the biggest estate, but in overall size terms is no bigger than a Smart car.


    A full tank of air will cost about 1.50 euro

    The air is compressed at pressure about 150 times the rate you would put into car tyres or your bicycle.

    An earlier version of the car that we drove was noisy and slow, and a tiny bit cumbersome.

    But then this vehicle will not be competing with a Ferrari or Rolls Royce. And the manufacturers are not seeking to develop a Formula One version of the vehicle.

    What the company is aiming at is the urban motorist: delivery vehicles, taxi drivers, and people who just use their car to nip out to the shops.

    The latest vehicle is said to have come on leaps and bounds from the early model we drove.

    It is said to be much quieter, a top speed of 110 km/h (65 mph), and a range of around 200 km before you need to fill the tanks up with air.

    Filling up

    The car comes fitted with its own compressor so you can fill up at home. But that would take four hours.

    The company has developed the technology to refill the vehicle in three minutes, although there are no service station forecourts with the compressed air machines to do that yet.

    And the cost? Cyril Negre, the head of Research and Development at MDI cars, reckons a full tank of air would be about 1.50 euros.

    But the difference between success and failure in the motor industry is investment and faith. On paper the car works; around the industrial estate that we took the early prototype, it works.

    Now the question is: how to make the leap from concept to the market? Will the dream become something more than so much compressed air?
    Not sure whether the power will ever be sufficient enough for a car, seeing as it needs a petrol burner to heat the air to generate enough pressure to use at higher speeds.

    Interesting idea though. Reminds me of the solution in the 70s that ran on cow dung but not been seen since. At least some inventors are trying their luck, whilst we wait for the big motoring manufacturers to finally sort out alternatives to oil. Seems like we've been waiting for the hydrogen car for a very long time now.
    Feist - 1234. One camera, one take, no editing. Superb. How they did it
    Feist - I Feel It All
    Feist - The Bad In Each Other (Later With Jools Holland)

    #2
    You'll know that it's viable when one of the oil giants buys them out and the project disappears without trace.

    Comment


      #3
      Only just chosed my diesel Focus - maybe I should hold fire for the air car.

      Yeah, can just see me getting blown about the M62 every morning........

      Price is only around the £2500 mark, so, looks good for city living.

      Comment


        #4
        Sounds like a great idea - maybe Ken will get some busses to run on air, too!
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        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Wilmslow View Post
          Only just chosed my diesel Focus - maybe I should hold fire for the air car.

          Yeah, can just see me getting blown about the M62 every morning........

          Price is only around the £2500 mark, so, looks good for city living.
          chose

          HTH

          Comment


            #6
            It has the sleek lines of a Hamster cage. Bearing that in mind it is a sensible idea launching it in France I suppose.
            “The period of the disintegration of the European Union has begun. And the first vessel to have departed is Britain”

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Wilmslow View Post
              Yeah, can just see me getting blown
              I doubt that happens too often.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by oracleslave View Post
                I doubt that happens too often.
                I will disappointed if not tonight - off for a lads night out in Leeds at the Purple Door

                No doubt I will bump into any Leeds contractors....

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Wilmslow View Post
                  I will disappointed if not tonight - off for a lads night out in Leeds at the Purple Door
                  You going to work tomorrow?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by PAH View Post
                    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2281011.stm

                    http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/new...news=1&bbcws=1



                    Not sure whether the power will ever be sufficient enough for a car, seeing as it needs a petrol burner to heat the air to generate enough pressure to use at higher speeds.

                    Interesting idea though. Reminds me of the solution in the 70s that ran on cow dung but not been seen since. At least some inventors are trying their luck, whilst we wait for the big motoring manufacturers to finally sort out alternatives to oil. Seems like we've been waiting for the hydrogen car for a very long time now.
                    It's just a "load of hot air" and will remain so until someone manages to come up with an idea to make users pay thousands of pounds to use it.
                    It's Deja-vu all over again!

                    Comment

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