Archives

200 miles between fills. I like the idea now all it needs is a 120V plug in on board compressor. That would make up for the energy and air loss during use.

Air Car (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztFDqcu8oJ4)

I hope this isn't a re-post. I did a quick search and nothing came up.

Except for the free air and perpetual motion hogwash, it is a good piece. Three factors that are not addressed. First: The air has to be compressed. It takes energy to do that. Second: When air (gas) is compressed, it heats up. The old ideal gas law. As it sits, it cools and the pressure decreases, This is a loss in heat (energy) and will effect the range. Third: Regeneration. It should be possible to recompress air and use it as braking and thus recover some of the lost energy. I hope it is a vialble option.

The free air comments and perpetual motion references give the whole piece a negative or amateurish presentartion. Anyone with a basic knowledge of physics will question the entire piece due to the lack of understanding of basic physics.

I would think pure electricity would be more efficient.

Compressed air is just a mechanism for energy storage, and probably not a very efficient one at that (especially over time, as bestmapman pointed out).

I would think pure electricity would be more efficient.Well I think... in essence, it is electricity. Electricity is used to compress the air. The question is... what is the most efficient way to store electricity. Here are the big hitters:


Mechanical - Compressed Air (this article)
Mechanical - Hydro Electric (pump into a reservoir)
Molecular - Electrolysis of water to fuel cell back to water
Chemical - NiMH battery
Chemical - LiON battery
Capicitors - EEStor super caps


To date, I think the most efficent form of energy storage is hydro-electric. Number 2. Hard to put in a car since water weighs so darn much. Capacitors are real good at energy storage as well and might be the wave of the future, if their capacity can get up high enough. Fuel cells and batteries are probably the least efficient in the list, but are readily (kinda) available. #1 on the list is attractive because its very efficient and very available. If it can get the right backing... it might beat them all for how to power electric cars in the future.

11011011

run the compressors off of solar all day, come home from work and pump the free cooled off air into the car. maybe they'll put carbon fiber tanks in for strength/light weight. with cold air as exhaust that equals no load air condition in the summer.