from a Business Week online article:
The MiniC.A.T is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis that is glued not welded and a body of fibreglass…
… Most importantly, it is incredibly cost-efficient to run – according to the designers, it costs less than one Euro per 100Km (about a tenth that of a petrol car). Its mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car (200 to 300 km or 10 hours of driving), a factor which makes a perfect choice in cities where the 80% of motorists drive at less than 60Km. The car has a top speed of 68 mph. …
… At the moment, four models have been made: a car, a taxi (5 passengers), a Pick-Up truck and a van. The final selling price will be approximately 5500 UK pounds (approximately $11000 USD)
The link says March 2007 so part of me wonders if this is an an April Fool’s type of prank, because it sounds too good to be true. A google search for “french air car” turns up some confirming links at the BBC and MSNBC.
The MDI MiniCat´s really is a revolutionary urban solution. While carrying the full MDI “zero pollution” compressed air technology, the car is very small. Only 2.65 m in length, conventional width and height make the MiniCat´s the ultimate city car: non-polluting and easy to park…
Maybe this could be interesting. Maybe this could be my new pickup.
Maybe the major auto manufacturers and oil companies will lobby like mad to ensure it never sees an American street. And maybe I’m far to cynical for 30.
key phrase “…once the market develops…” Until then, it’s 3 or four hours plugged into the mains to recharge. Oh well, let’s hope all those “early adopters” go for it.
I’m all for anything that will help, even if it is just useful for a relatively small number of people. A car like that might work out well in my town----there is no public transportation, not that much traffic, but things are not close enough for people to walk and many people can’t ride bikes.
I guess I wonder about the air compression----what is the source of energy for that? I’ll have to look into that I guess. I think in Iowa compressed air is used to store power generated by wind turbines—but not sure and I would imagine that is a fairly unusual source of compressed air.
Read the discussion I linked to. Lots of refs to ultimate energy expenditure, which is becoming more and more an issue. There’s plenty of noise in the discussion too, and asides about wind turbines, skim over that.
An idea like this should really be considered purely terms of practicality, economic issues aside - we may not have the luxury of being able to make a killing down the road. Unfortunately this is completely at odds with how markets work, so…
The most telling points in the discussion (I’m re-reading it) may be the people who snicker at the very idea; it’s been trotted out every now and then for 30 years or so and nothing comes of it. One person points out that they’re claiming efficiencies 5 times greater than what you get out of a good bicycle. Rather unlikely. Another gripe is that they’re likely using road tests conducted on level ground with no stopping, which isn’t very realistic, either. Or that compressed air loses a lot of its oomph in cold weather; will these things work at -20F?
It certainly isn’t a silver bullet. The critics make a compelling argument that compressed air is inefficient and would make the energy crunch actually worse not better. The positives are more in the lightweight design and small form factor. There are gas powered cars on the market that have a similar small size.
The positives are zero emissions, actually negative emissions. The “exhaust” will generally be cleaner air than the atmosphere. For certain cities with terrible smog problems, that much alone might be worth the bother and expense.
These things will probably never make it to American highways. Though to be fair, this is a European design, and the U. S. is not the targeted market. Crowded cities with near unbreathable air, or with narrow streets and $8 USD per gallon gasoline are where these vehicles might be of high utility.
Hello? 68km tops? That’s fine for downtown driving for a few blocks, but you’re not going on any freeways or highways at that speed. Its really not a practical solution for anything but core driving in major cities.
“68km tops” might not sound too hot, but there is the question of how much potential there is for improvement. One problem with compressing gasses for use as an energy storage system is that compressing the gas in the first place generates heat, which has to be gotten rid of and is lost energy. Then, as the gas expands, it cools, so it doesn’t expand as much as it would if it don’t end up chilling its self, so you loose even more energy. A plus could be that containers for compressed gas don’t wear out nearly as fast as batteries going through charge and discharge cycles. Long-term battery life could be what makes or breaks electric cars. If I was in charge of funding the development of the replacement for oil powered vehicles, I would go with flywheels. In theory, they have a better weight to available energy ratio than fuels and better regenerative breaking, energy efficiency, recharge times and top speeds than batteries. (If that didn’t make sense, don’t worry, “it won’t be on the test”.)
Not gonna get into a discussion about this, especially after reading what some of the stumpers and naysayers on peak oil have to say (I’m always amused at the number of “experts” there are on peak oil who havn’t the first damn clue about what they’re talking about; this discussion is no exception).
I am going to throw out one observation, though; the above discussion looks oddly similar to ones I remember reading on various newsgroups in the mid to late ninties about an odd newfangled contraption called the “Gas-Electric Hybrid.” I’m willing to bed dimes to dollars most of the yahoos on peak oil never gave hybrids a first thought back in the 90s, and there were MANY folks on those newsgroups who had some of the same naysaying arguments about hybrids and hybrid technology as are being expressed about the air car.
Lo, and behold, how many companies offer a hybrid option now (or in some cases, several hybrid options)?
YMMV
–an aside–
recently bought a 1982 VW rabbit diesel and started producing my own fuel.
/great fun
//done in a weekend
///using shite people throw away anyways
////slashies rule
I agree, there’s a lot of noise in those discussions, but there are knowledgable people in there as well. The Oil Drum is where to go if you want something as rigorous as you please.
Peak Oil is a whole buffet of potential problems we’re facing. Go to the link in my signature if you want to see 'em laid out one after the other. That we’ve overcome energy/technological obstacles in the past isn’t really reassuring to me.
In the photo you can see how the tanks have steel value covers and are chained to the wall so that they can’t fall over. Most people are not aware of how much energy is involved in a cylinder of compressed gas at 2,000 psi. However, I often see unsecured cylinders of helium without value covers for filling baloons in retail environments . What the users don’t know is that, if the cylinder where to tip over and break off the value at the top of the cylinder, the cylinder would suddenly release its contents, becomming a rocket capable of going through concrete walls. I think that I would be concerned with an air-powered car, if the energy to propel the care was a compressed gas. Then again, conventional cars with tanks of highly flammable gasoline or hybrid cars with stored electrical energy all pose hazzards in case of a malfunction or accident.
the idea is valuable. There have to be better ways of powering transportation systems made available now. (and by “now” I mean two weeks ago)
Even though this isn’t a final solution, it is a valiant start and encouraging over the long haul. Things must start with a workable idea and then be refined over time. Right now I wouldn’t suspect a car with these specs would be of any value in american usage past a utility cart at a golf course. The endurance specs just don’t make it practical for most, well me, anyways. They are quoting that a 10 hour run with this should get you 300 km… that’s only 180 miles or so. Are they saying that it is most efficient when going 18 miles an hour? I can ride a bike that fast on level ground.
Still it is encouraging.
I like what these folks are doing with the ENV bike. The only hitch is the hydrogen generators are sill using fossil fuels to work. (that and they haven’t introduced a transmission on the bike so it only has one gear and will only go as fast as the electric motor) I wonder what could be done about having solar or wind electrolizing water to get hydrogen for this stuff.
ah - as a past “balloon girl” (no snide comments guys) at a local amusement park, and 20+ years in an analytical lab, believe me, I do know how to safely store compressed gas cylinders! I saw a helium tank take off across a warehouse and punch through a plaster wall when someone knocked the valve off of it.
I had the most fun with the acetylene tanks, however. Even “empty” (they never are truly empty, they have acetone in them) I couldn’t get the darn cart to tip on the wheels to transport them, much less a full one. They weigh over 200 lbs. I also thought I had a nitros leak in my atomic absorption unit once, until I came in one morning and found the valve laying on the floor - the night crew were having some fun.
In the labs now, you can’t change out cylinders unless you have steel toed shoes. And the straps are no longer approved for use (because of fire), they must be secured with either metal strips or chains.
The average speed of traffic in London during rush hour is 7 mph. This car can do 37.2 mph. That’s ample for the urban commute, supermarket run, or kids school run.
In size, it’s much the same as a Smart car, of which there are thousands in London.
You don’t get 18 wheelers in Central London, though of course you do get buses and vans. However the “I must have a big car to protect myself” is the reason we now suffer the Chelsea Tractor syndrome, and the reason the Mayor of London is punishing people financially for driving SUVs.
