http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztFDqcu8oJ4 No toxic emissions, economical and efficient. Where can I get one?
At the time we were planning to get our General Motors EV-1, we looked into air cars. There were numerous articles about the French company supplying them as taxi cabs to Johannesburg . . . but we were never able to confirm this, nor indeed get any response from France. When GM took our EV -1 away four years later (best car we ever had . . . well except, perhaps, for the Morgan +4), we investigated air again, to no avail. I don't think it's a hoax, but it seems odd that after nearly 20 years, they are so invisible.
A number of companies are developing such vehicles, though they are not on the mass market in the United States. The French Firm, MDI is currently operating factories in several countries including Mexico. Another company, Aircar is locked in a bitter dispute with MDI and is attempting to start operations in Spain. Energine, the Korean firm developed hybrid vehicles employing internal combustion technology and compressed air engines while Dae Woo, the famous Korean manufacturing corporation has developedanother hybrid electric/compressed-air engine (Pne-PHEV, pneumatic plug-in hybrid electric vehicle). This engine is used to activate an alternator, which extends the autonomous operating capacity of the car. Now oddly enough Energine's CEO has been arrested for fraud. How well this kind of vehicle will do in the United States has yet to be seen.
While attending a conference some years ago a speaker from GM discussed the EV-1 car. The reason for taking it off the road were several; they were an experiment with a designated test period, a few cars that were in accidents that cost lots of money to clean up, and the batteries were corroding the chassis. I doubt if the compressed air powered car, mentioned in the initial posting, will be successfull. Apart from the inpractical operating capabilities the car needs power to compress the air - more power than is delivered. There are better options. If you ever saw what happens when a compressed air tank explodes you would never buy a car with a large compressedair tank. The idea of a compressed air powered car is not new - I saw a Triumph Herald car with a compressed air engine/hydraulic transmission back in the 60s at the UK Motor Industries Research Laboratory.
You forget to mention that the petroleum lobbyists would use everything in their power to keep them off the road.
Ian: "While attending a conference some years ago a speaker from GM discussed the EV-1 car. The reason for taking it off the road were several; they were an experiment with a designated test period, a few cars that were in accidents that cost lots of money to clean up, and the batteries were corroding the chassis." John: I tend to believe the story in the film Who Killed the Electric Car.** California had established strict emission standards. GM, working closely with engineers at UC Davis, developed manufactured a wonderful car, then intentionally chose to market it minimally and badly. Then they could go to the state and say, "Gee, we tried, but no one wanted one." Many of my colleagues in the EV Users Group made our own handouts to give to the dozen or more people who inquired of each of us every day, since GM had nothing available. We each heard from scores of people who said, in effect, "I tried to lease one, but GM turned me down." There were rampant rumors going on at the time that both Apple and Sony were very interested in buying the EV project from GM. But that would have defeated GM's purpose. GM promised to donate most of the cars to university engineering departments, but instead secretly (until the film makers found the graveyard in the remote Arizona desert) trashed them. Recall that GM (and Standard/Chevron and Firestone) are the folks who purchased 46 of the US inter-urban trolley car lines in the 30s and 40s, and closed them down, so people would have to drive more. They were convicted of in federal court...and fined $5,000 each. I guess the main reason I hope GM stays in business is that they seem to have another very satisfactory full electric, the Chevy Volt, nearly ready for manufacture. (Yeah, I'd probably buy one, if the family ethicist approves.) _____________ ** It can be viewed in segments on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJAlrYjGz8
