Forget electric cars, this one runs on compressed air
August 19, 2012
Airpod car (credit: Tata Motors)
India’s Tata Motors is pushing technology for compressed air to power cars forward with its project to build “Airpods” — zero-pollution, cute-as-a-bug smartcars that zip along at 40 m.p.h. via the magic of squeezed air, The Atlantic Cities reports.
They are built with pneumatic motors that use pressurized air to drive pistons.
The mid-sized model fits three passengers, although one must face backward. Its tank can hold 175 liters of air, which a driver gets either at a specialized fueling station or by activating an onboard electric motor to suck it in. Its makers say that filling er’ up will cost a paltry €1, and that a full tank of air can last for roughly 125 miles.
Comments (21)
by demag electric motors
What a great car, this is great great thing that Its tank can hold 175 liters of air, which a driver gets either at a specialized fueling station or by activating an on board electric motor to suck it in. Thanks for sharing this information of this interesting car.
by SputnikDave
This is just another temporary “placekeeper” idea until The Age Of Magnetism begins in earnest. Regardless of how rational this compressed air idea may appear on the surface, people are not going to give up their creature comforts and their desire for higher speeds to accommodate their busy lives. Air, solar, and electric will not provide the range of vehicles the public demands, and will therefore ultimately fail. Just look at the joke “hybrid” vehicles have revealed themselves to be; just another pseudo-green non-solution for elitists. Magnetism will provide the true green revolution. Concentrate on the emerging technologies associated with nanotech and magnetism if you truly want to embrace a technological revolution that will clean up the planet while simultaneously addressing mankind’s transportation needs and desires.
by Gren Ait
I Wonder if you could have an electric car and charge the batteries at the air filling station for tires to extend range.
by kapil
Am unable to fathom where they have located the air tank. IMO, the only issue involvedin designinga pneumatic car is the locationand design of the compressed air tank.
A tiny car like the one displayed is likely to blow away few miles in the air… IF the air tank bursts
fingers crossed to see the model live….
just hope its not a non-sense piece like the Nano… several of which burnt while on road with the oassengers inside.. had this happened in the USA.. the manufacturers, designers and sellers would have become bankrupt and laid behind bars for the rest of their lives
by libra9
I believe the city of the future will be 100% public transportation.
Think of a giant warehouse with a computer controlled robotic retrieval system that can quickly move to and from any cube in the 3D matrix transporting parts. We will be the parts moving between the cubes. This is a logical extension of what already exists with present elevator, escalator, and transit systems. We give up freedom for safety, economy, and efficiency.
Outside this metro matrix will be zones with increasing degrees of transportation freedom and independence until you are on the wide open road in your giant, luxurious, gadget laden, gas guzzling, land yacht.
by Queenie
Oh that’s great.. Good luck to India. I’m so worried that the Elite will do something to stop this wonderful inventions.. They will use HAARP. I will not be surprised if one day an Earthquake hit India.
by Bri
Open the pod bay doors Hal. Great price for a fill up, but electric motors in electric cars will probably rule the day. Could have a solar panel on it and a little ” tire” pump to help recharge the ” gas”(atmospheric) tank.
by cosmowrench
I’d like to see how it performs in a crash test. Its a driving bomb!
by Alan
Robotic vehicles are going to enable just this sort of power train innovation. You’ll be more likely to hire a robotic cab than own a car, especially in urban areas.
And you won’t be betting on technologies; fleet owners will be doing that. And fleets often already address their own fuel needs. Some use compressed natural gas already, for example.
So it will be a lot easier to try technologies like this one.
By my reckoning, 125 miles for a dollar would require a gasoline vehicle to get 500 miles to the gallon if gas is $4 a gallon. If a cab travels 250 miles in a 24 hour day, fuel a 50 mpg cab costs $20. This thing takes $2. A fleet of 20 vehicles can save $10,800 a month switching to this vehicle.
by jstjnk
I’d buy this if I had a safe route to commute with it. Typical street speeds are 55mph around here and freeway speeds often 80 (yes, faster than legal, but it’s what everyone drives if traffic allows). I’d be happy to go somewhat slower, but I want a chance at surviving a broadside crash at these speeds. Or streets, routes, designated for slower plastic side walled vehicles.
by GatorALLin
thanks for posting up that video…
I remembered an electric car called the “tango” and did a quick google search to find they are making a few cars now. I think this Tango car should be less than 10K, but seems that they have somehow sold about 10 cars a year in the 150K range…. crazy. http://tangocars.blogspot.com/
by GatorALLin
or you can buy the fast cool one. I hear starting price is $145K range…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5RCyCz8Sjc
by You
Forget compressed air. Check this out: it’s a car that runs on water, man!
by MrFriendly
Woah…this is amazing.
125 miles…incredible.
It’s this kind of technology that really makes me feel like we’ve arrived at the future.
by Editor
Seems like a good solution for cities for cost, pollution, mobility, and space reasons.
by MrFriendly
Yeah, exactly. When I think of the city of the future, this is the type of vehicle I imagine on its streets.
I think it looks quite cool, too :P
by Kiwini
“Forget electric cars, this one runs on compressed air”?
Umm….no, ’cause unless the compressed air “power supply” was sourced from a bicycle pump, the odds are that the prime mover was “charged up” by means of an electric air compressor.
Get real…it’s a concept, not the final answer.
by Editor
The video mentions that, and advocates charging with wind power (or solar).
by Bruce Wright
I’m not sure why you think it matters that the compressed air isn’t the “ultimate” fuel – the electricity “stored” in electric car batteries isn’t the “ultimate” fuel for those vehicles either. And in all probability, hydrogen-powered vehicles (should they ever become popular) would rely on hydrogen split out of water using energy from another power source. You don’t have to carry your ultimate power source with you; that’s just happened to be (essentially) what we’ve done with gasoline and diesel engines. But the only real requirement for a vehicular power source is that it be portable.
This actually looks quite promising, especially for developing countries like India. Batteries for electric cars are very expensive, and hydrogen would require a lot of infrastructure that nobody has completely solved yet. Air is really cheap; you just need a power source to compress it.
by GatorALLin
Round windows look a bit submarine like to me… After clicking on the link you can see the front window pops up to be the door. But, I don’t like that the seats for the 2 rear passengers are facing backwards. I think these “cars” suffer from anti-cool factors enough already… and seem tiny and thus vulnerable, so no one wants to feel any more at risk by not getting to see where you are going so I think rear facing seats are a design fail. On the link I liked they used a cooler wheel design and many other designs to pick from so maybe they can get to cool someday… Paying a few dollars for a 125 mile fill-up of air seems is cool enough to make up for a lot of course…
I just hope one day we can drive these air cars up to a high speed moving train platform and pull on/off without the train needing to slow down…then drive short distances to where we need to go.
These vehicles need vip parking at all parking lots (just like handicap parking gets, only pain these spots Green) and free plug in while you shop, so free air or electric (just like free Wifi at Starbucks) if you want them to really take off and make US buyers take this more seriously than the $7,500 tax break. Hard to give up my 306 hp mustang dripping with chrome, monster stereo, fat back tires, great power, great breaks and curves that don’t end …..for a yellow submarine…. even if it were free. This design and cost reduction and Green design is making great progress…. just needs some big help on the good looks and sexy lines.
…anyone know why these air bubble cars should cost more than about $3,500? That could help make the idea spread a bit faster also…
by Bruce Wright
Actually these cars appear to compare very favorably with the small 3-wheeler go-cart like vehicles that are in wide use in Indian cities. The existing 3-wheelers use a one cylinder gasoline engine, which is both noisy and highly polluting, and which burns expensive gasoline. Not only that, but they’re mostly open to the elements – not good when it’s the rainy season.
These are about the same size (so to their target market they don’t look any more tiny and vulnerable than what they’re already using), have no pollution, should be quieter, and should be much cheaper to operate. The rearward-facing seat is also a design “feature” of many of the existing 3-wheelers, so it won’t seem as off putting to Indians as it might to Americans. Not only that, these are much nicer looking than the old 3-wheelers. What’s not to like?