Car that runs on air debuts in France
Just the other day, I was thinking it would be so crazy-cool if some company bust out a new technology that allows cars to run on a dirt-cheap gasoline alternative thus banishing the great oil dependency for good. Unpurified water, sand, who knows? The kicker would be that pre-existing cars could also be converted at little or no cost to run on the new fuel. Well, beggars may dream, but in the meantime, one company has created a car that can run on air, and is now in production. The Discovery Channel has a short video on this online. Although the video takes a few minutes to load and starts with a Loewe’s commercial, it’s worth waiting to view it to see it in action.
Invented by Guy Negre and his team after twelve years of R&D at MDI (Motor Development International) in France, the “Air Car” is pollution free to boot with zero-emissions. The only exhaust is cold air, which can be rerouted into the car for air-conditioning. It is powered by CAT (compressed-air-technology) and the air is stored in special lightweight carbon fibre tanks. The company says the same technology is also used in space shuttles. The engine is designed as a modular piece; meaning multiple engines can be attached to form a 2, 4, or a 6 cylinder engine. While its top speed on air is 60km/hr, it is considered adequate for urban city centres where speed limits usually don’t exceed that anyway. The firm’s website indicates that recent incorporation of a bi-energy format (air + gasoline) increases the driving range to almost 2000 km (you can only go 150km using air only). When the car switches to gas mode, the zero-emissions obviously no longer applies but the pollution is still considerably reduced. One imagines that in time, the concept will be improved upon for air-only, higher speed, longer distance travel, thus increasing the realm of usage.
The tank can be refilled by plugging in the car to an electrical outlet for 4 hours or in just 3 minutes using an air compressor (MDI envisages adding such pumps to traditional or purpose-built gas stations). In any case, filling up your airtank at a projected cost of €1.5-2.5/$2.5-2.5 just cannot be beat; they estimate that it would cost at least $12 to go that 150km in a regular fuel car. You’d probably need gasoline only when you’re travelling out of town long distance. The cars themselves are to go for €6860-9500.
Some may counter that refueling the engine requires an air compressor that runs from a high power source like gas or fossil fuel-generated electricity. Therefore, how much emissions reduction or energy conservation is there really at the end of the day? That may not be relevant to the immediate context given that France is estimated as deriving about 80% of it energy from nuclear power. However, there are possibilities of ensuring that the whole energy cycle is natural, e.g. by powering motors from renewable energy sources like solar, hydro, or windmill sources if applicable. The technology has infinite possibilities. Since North America didn’t get on the alternative fuel bandwagon early with countries like Brazil (which uses ethanol for fuel), it has to go even further in order to catch up properly. A possibly more efficient alternative like air could be that stepping stone.
On to the superficial but crucial:
Understandably, the primary focus was to get the technology working, but now that it has, the exterior body style of the car should be updated to match the sexiness of the technology in order to attract heavy consumer interest. The current look of the car underscores the importance of aesthetics in a product. Of all people, ze styleesh Fronsh should know that Fugly doesn’t sell. If Lagerfeld, Lacroix, Slimane, et al were too busy or too expensive to participate in this project, some fresh design grad student(s) would probably be very excited to work on something like this. However, Mr. Negre still merits our Pimp-In-Deed medal on the basis of his application of technology alone; a Pimp in need is a Pimp in Deed and the alternatives he’s pushing are sorely needed.
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