ecogeek.org — Refueling is simple and will only take a few minutes. Just stop by any gas station equipped with custom air compressor units. The cost of a fill up is approximately $2.00. Drivers will also be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car?s built-in compressor to refill the tanks in about 4 hours.
May 27, 2007 View in Crawl 4
yusoshiMay 27, 2007
@polymath22Re; Your idea idea - it's happening at <a class="user" href="http://www.cambrianhouse.com/">http://www.cambrianhouse.com/</a> You could also check out <a class="user" href="http://www.elephant-design.com/en/">http://www.elephant-design.com/en/</a> - it's not exactly the same, but they have a great system for getting cool ideas out there by getting people to agree to buy stuff before it's made.
apeweekMay 27, 2007
Well, they might care how a car runs if they can't make much money off of it. An air car wouldn't need oil changes, filters, coolant, etc. That air engine might also last a LONG time, and might not have enough parts to wear out.Any market share a car like this gets will take share away from more profitable cars.
wacerMay 27, 2007
@themajorThey are also making new technology that will let power plants capture most of the CO2 to be stored deep underground or at the bottom of the ocean.
apache2May 27, 2007
why is it so f**king god awful ugly
anarchistukMay 27, 2007
This car blows....you to work :)
polymath22May 28, 2007
@blahtasticthere is a little over 1000 watts/ square meter of solar energy available, on average.current solar panel technology is about 17% efficient, which means they might get 170 watts/ square meter, which isn't much.current solar panel technology uses the photo-electric effect, or the "particle" of light, to knock loose an electron, which then becomes a "charge"<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoelectric_effect">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoelectric_effect</a>the wave part of light has not been harnessed by our technology. <a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave–particle_duality">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave–particle_duality</a>a major issue is that the "wave" energy of solar power is scattered light. how can you "tune in" red light at the same time as you "tune in" blue light? that would be like listening to two radio stations at opposite ends of the dial- at the same time. furthermore, at any given frequency, there is just a small bit of available energy to be "tapped into".i think that it is possible to gather light (lens, mirrors, etc)direct it, (parabolic mirrors, etc)filter it into r-o-y-g-b-i-v (prism)direct the different colors into a bank of tuned tank circuits. run the different AC outputs into bridge rectifiers.daisy-chain the DC outputs into a "pile" to boost the output voltage. store the energy.take a standard battery (of cells) and instead of hard-connecting the cells, "break the circuit" and run wires to a switching device that connects the cells "in parallel" (for charging at low voltage), or in series (for higher voltage output)(i got the prism idea when i was watering my lawn, and a rainbow appeared.)
disodiumMay 28, 2007
i cant agree more, as an air traffic controller the idea of all the idiots on the road trying to comprehend the intricacies of flight scares the living hell out of me
jetshock3May 28, 2007
4000 psi? Sounds like a hole in the tank would result in one hell of a paper cut. But that's no reason to give up on alternate means of power.
peter010May 31, 2007
If you look up "Angelo Di Pietro" on wikipedia you can get info about an even more efficient compressed air engine which works on a rotary air-engine design!Also check out <a class="user" href="http://www.engineair.com.au">http://www.engineair.com.au</a>
fracture98Oct 10, 2008
*Major Pumping Required.