Would you be willing to have the Air Car adopted as the standard for vehicles the world over?

Question

Read about the first commercial compressed air car manufactured in India.

http://macrocosm-magbook.blogspot.com/2007/05/commercial-compressed-air-cars-break.html

Answer 1

The air car doesn't sound so bad, but we have to look more into which car is TRULY efficient, and the most efficient, and then go with that.

Answer 2

There is no legislative or enforcement body that could do this so while it's a great idea, it wouldn't work

If you want to encourage it's use, work on regional and national planning policies to affect change to encourage/mandate the use of these cars.  It's possible to do.  Very difficult, but possible.

Answer 3

No.  It could work in heavy traffic downtown areas, but it really isn't made for interstate type driving.  Nor is it made to withstand car crashes well.  And we still need to keep considering other options such as hydrogen fuel cells and biologically produced ethanol.

Answer 4

Assuming all other factors in the making of this car are also added to the "pollution equation" I would like to see it as a choice.

I am very pessimistic about it's chances in the USA, which is currently controlled at every level by the oil industry and the unions.  The regulations that will be passed to allow the car into the country and on the roads will probably be unsurmountable.

I lived near an electric car innovator in the 1960's. He had a workable electric car that could have gone into production fifty years ago, but the government put him out of business.

Answer 5

no, Compressed gas is a useful alternative to current fossil fuel mnd sets; but

there are better electric vehcle alternatives, better range, quieter, higher power, better "well-Wheel" efficiencies.

www.teslamotors.com 0-60 4 secs

www.phoenixmotorcars.com 10 minute recharge

refuel direct from the grid at home or work, no extra equipment/energy transfer stage required.

The distributed production francise for the air car is a good idea. but the product is not really there yet.

Answer 6

I think it would be great as a choice.  If our country and others had more affordable choices- air, hybrid, electric, natural gas, hydrogen, etc....people might be able to decide for themselves.

Answer 7

Nope not yet. There are currently still some safety and mileage and "recharge" issues. Later as the product improves... probably.

Answer 8

I want a car that'll run on pure snake oil.  There sure is a lot of that around.

Answer 9

No way .You still need fuel . To many cars and trucks to replace that would even cause more pollution . What we need is a clean fuel we can adapt to our existing vehicles like hydrogen . And they look very unsafe and to small

I wonder how they would hold up in a crash test not well I'm sure . It would be like driving a go cart on the E way

Answer 10

no, but I would like to see it sold in the US as a commuter car.

Answer 11

don't let anyone tell you this is an "emissions free" vehicle. Sure, the only thing coming out of the tailpipe is air. But, chances are, fossil fuels were burned to create the electricity. In India, that mostly means coal. But the carbon emissions per mile of these things still far outdoes any gasoline car on the market.

Unfortunately, the streets of North America may never see the Air Car, though; it's light-weight, glued-together fiberglass construction might not do so well in our crash tests. However, that does not mean the Air car is confined to the sub-continent. Nègre has signed deals to bring its design to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa.

And this isn't the last we'll hear of the technology.

Answer 12

I don't think the world will ever have a standard.

The air car is a superb idea and I think it cold be a geat way to reduce emmissions IF you first find a way to reduce emmissions on the electricity that creates the compressed air. Either solar, wind or nuclear.

When emmissions are under control for electricity generation, then you wil be able to focus on an idea like the air car becoming widely used all over the world. And the idea can be expounded on for longer range and more places to fill the tanks,

Answer 13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-A3XHFT5...

Answer 14

Compressing air is an inefficient method of energy storage.

its more efficient to store energy in modern Li Poly batteries and run electric motors.

The energy to compress the air had to be generated somewhere... most likely from a fossil fuel powered electric generating plant.

Note that air tools are being used less and less... battery powered hand tools are taking over.  There's a good reason... The battery powered ELECTRIC tools are more efficient, have less maintenance and just generally cost less in the long term.

Answer 15

Truly, I can not foresee realistic applications for this technology, given the fact the Air Car still requires electric batteries and is limited in speed and distance.  As stated by other posters, fossil fuel technology is still required to produce the air compression, so there won't be a total elimination of petrol usage.  It still would be great if the distance, speed, and longevity were increased.  I believe people would embrace it better if these were extended.  It is, essentially, an electric car for all intents and purposes.  Just powered by a different source for the batteries' power.  At least someone is trying a different approach.