What Next? [RE-wrenches]

[Christopher Freitas - OutBack Power]

matthew tritt wrote:
 
> Has anyone else heard about the new French car (it's got to be a 
> Citroen!) that runs on compressed air? 

Here is the URL - www.theaircar.com - and it is a fairly credible 
venture from what I hear. I have followed it for about three years now 
after finding out about a few of the patents being awarded. Keep in mind 
what they call a "car" is not what most of us are used to (although I do 
own three citroen 2CVs).  The vehicle is very light and on the small 
side.  Lots of composite material in the tank and the car body.  

As far as safety goes - yes there is no "dangerous" battery but there is 
a tank of extremely compressed air (300 bar - 9000 psi?).  Probably 
still better than a tank of compressed hydrogen though... There is 
another site - www.hypercar.com which has some nice info on a fuel cell 
powered car being developed. 

Both the compressed air and hydrogen are just forms of stored energy.  
The compressed air can be converted into motion more directly than the 
hydrogen.  Fewer conversions means better efficiency.  Keep in mind that 
the hydrogen also has to be compressed in order to store enough in the 
vehicle to allow reasonable distance to be driven - and the expansion of 
the hydrogen is not used to power the vehicle. The hydrogen also has to 
be made as well - resulting in another efficiency loss.  

I think the simplicity of the air car has a lot going for it.  We will 
see.    


Christopher Freitas
OutBack Power Systems, Inc.
cfreitas at outbackpower.com  www.outbackpower.com
Tel 360 435 6030  Arlington WA USA

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