I think I just saw my next car. I put us on the list to be notified when theygo on the market in 2009.
These are the MDI Air Cars. They represent the cleanest auto technology to date.
They actually clean the air minstead of pollute it.
The car is powered by a cutting edge compressed air engine.
At this point in development, a full tank of air is good for 200 kilometers.
The city cars are totally air powered and have a top speed of 50 km/h.
The road cars are hybrid and and have a fuel powered engine that kicks in at speeds
above 50 km/h. The radical design of the hybrid engine can attain a top
speed of 220 km/h and has a fuel efficiency that at current fuel prices should be
about 1 Euro for 100 kilometers.
The air tanks can be filled at any service station that has compressed air for tires.
There is also an onboard compressor to keep the tanks full.
The air used to power the car must be filtered to protect the engine, so a
radically different air filtration device was invented. This means that the air used by the car is actually cleaner than it was before it was put into the tanks!
Because the compressed air exhaust temperature is between 0 and -15 degrees, it is
a totally free byproduct that will be used in the air conditioning system.
The on board electronics are charged once a week by plugging the car in for 4 hours
to an electrical outlet.
Guy Negre, the developer of the car has been an innovator in energy efficient
engines for a few decades now. He designed Formula One racers and has a few radically different engines in production by other companies.
The MDI Air Car has been in development since 1993 and he has envisioned and put inot motion a radically different production and distribution system.
If you are technically minded and would like to know more,
see the Web Site!
7 comments:
I like the looks of this one and I especially like the concept that it will not be an expensive car. So far, most of the alternative fueled vehicles are way above my spending limit.
I have heard more about this even this evening! It is going into production in India and Australia and the price for the Small City Car is well under 3,000 Euros.
This really looks like a real positive, safe alternative to petroleum. I signed up to be notified when they become available here.
They are talking about a manufacturing system with many small factories. 21 individual shops in France alone.
I saw that car a few years ago on a science program. At the time they could only manage a few Km's on 1 air charge. Have they really advanced that much to enable that kind of range? I'd like to see confirmation of those figures before I'd buy one. But if it did pan out that is amazing technology. I wonder what the energy cost though of compressing the air.
Well, Steve, the compressed air is available from your local gas station air pump. The car also has an on board compressor.
They have been approved for safety in Australia and India and will be available in 2009.
The technology won the Palme d'Or here in France last year and they are going ahead with plans to start building them here.
I hope you went to the website, because they have the facts, the figures and the technical answers to all your questions.
I'm not sure what's going on here, but this is turning into one of tonights headline stories on RAWSTORY!
I'm guessing that an owner could buy an air compressor for home use, eh?
Very cool. I want one!
Microdot- would you cross-post this article on Muck-rake blog?
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