http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/ Engadget Comments for The Air Car http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/
Hydrogen, right?

Well yes and no. Yes it's the future (and may always remain the future) as it's decades away and requires hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars of new infrastructure.

So what's right now?

Plug-in hybrids which can use the existing electric infrastructure. Electric cars and gas/electric hybrids like the Toyota Prius have the potential to be plugged in at home or work and are cheaper than running on gasoline. Although Toyota currently doesn't enable the option to plug-in the Prius technically it can be done. If the charging took place at night it would not require any additional electricity generation as power stations have to be run constantly and there is much less demand at night. By switching to clean renewable energy sources like wind power, the electricity generation could be made with zero emissions.

see:

http://alt-e.blogspot.com/2004/09/hybrid-cars-forbesnewsweek-discussion.html

James
Alternative Energy Blog]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/
Hogwash! The combined polution generated by cars/trucks far outway the pollution of a hydro/coal plant. And who's to say the electricity was not generated via nuclear plant? This is a great invention and IS the future. Only problem is, there is a huge conspiracy by the gov and big 3 to downplay/suppress or delay this technology as much as possible as this would mean mass layoffs and new oil politics. just think about it for a minute...


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While it is true that I could use extremely inefficient sources of electricity it is also true that I can generate my own via solar, wind, hydro or other methods.

The same cannot be said for gasoline. Barring a few folks running off of old french fry grease, I'm not aware of anyone making their own gasoline or having any control over where and how it is created. Gasoline has it's own "transmission inefficiencies" as well, since it needs to be pumped from the ground, transported, processed, and then transported a few more times.


]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.theaircar.com/faq.html

"What does the fuel cost?
Around $2 to fill up the air tanks."

That sounds cheaper than hydrogen. I wish they had some real numbers.

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http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/news/details?item_id=572227

Ford certainly doesn't seem to want to mass produce them. It makes sense. There's more money in SUVs, than small efficient electric cars. To try to keep up an environmentally friendly image Ford spends a bit of money on hydrogen research. Actual production if it ever happens is way, way off in the future. Meanwhile it can keep making SUVs.

James
Alternative Energy Blog]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005BRIQ/103-3540228-0142232?v=glance&s=toys&n=569552&me=A3UN6WX5RRO2AG&vi=pictures&img=14#more-pictures
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Wrong: Alternative powered sites would be very easy to hookup.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/
And the technology will only get better.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/I have cash and time, but where I must go to get it?]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/
Johnny]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/air trikehybride.
With three wheel steering.

I have it on paper but no money to construct it at this time. can anyone give me clues on how to get funding??? Combustion engine's wont be around much longer.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/
I don't think that this is necessarily true. Instead of electric power, compressed air coudl also be produced with wind generators (take out electrical generator, put in an air pump) thus it is easy to create compressed air without any energy conversion, which is the greatest loss (fossil fuel to electricity, electricity to compressed air). And apart from the initial investment, the energy thereafter is free. Good business - imagine a row of windmills in intervalls of 15 miles or more along the 101 in California...

I have been in France in the factory/research facility and I told Guy that he should not try to reach the final goal in one big leap. The problem of the car is the low energy level of the compressed air. They need very ligh weight tanks that are not on the market today. So their way to go would be to heat up the air to a higher level (increase the stored energy) than the heat from the surrounding air delivers. This could be achieved with fossil fuel, like a gas burner running on propane or other readily available fuel, until the tanks are available. Such a constant combustion is better to control than in a regular gas engine, thus the exhaust has very few pollutants in it. Still CO2, but .... better to have a car with the cleanest propulsion on the market than the "zero emission engine" as a pie in the sky. When they make enough money, they can finance the development themselves and are not relying on investoment money.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/
They are also potentially the most time efficient. One major hurdle pure electric vehicles still face is charging time. The Air Car can refill the air tanks in 2-3 minutes.

Electricity can be produced with zero pollution by hydro, wind and solar.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/http://www.engadget.com/2004/10/04/the-air-car/Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM