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Air Car – the CO2 equal-zero-emission car
The magic word is “compressed air”. With compressed air, it is possible to run a car CO2 emission free. The first prototypes are already in use as taxis or courier service. According to the story of German “nano” broadcast from 11/16/2005, two Euros suffice for a distance of 200 kilometres, running by an average speed of 100 kilometres per hour.
The engine’s principle is similar to a generic internal-combustion engine: A piston is worked by pressing air into a chamber. The compressed air bottle is situated below the car. At a temperature of 400 ° C, one of the two pistons compresses the air and presses it into a ball-shaped chamber. Consequently, cold air is pressed into the chamber under 40 Bars pressure, expands itself and depresses the other piston whose transmission goes out through a purifier. This double-cylinder engine has a typical weight of 35 kg and a cubic capacity of 980 cm3. Referring to Guy Nègre the refill of compressed air takes only two minutes.
However, this is simply a shift of the problem since the compressed air has to be generated somehow for which energy is needed. Unfortunately, this energy was gained from fossil fuels. Though visionary Guy Nègre has the plan to gain this energy environmentally friendly: He has the aim to design a mini-turbine in order to generate the compressed air directly.
The disadvantages are the following:
- During refuelling the compressed air becomes warmer and the pressure decreases. Increasing the pressure afterwards would need a big amount of energy.
- The car’s cruising range is highly limited due to poorly conceived compressed air bottles
- The electric car is three times more energy-efficient since you need less energy for charging the car’s batteries than for generating compressed air.
Martin Thoma, 06.03.2008
Julian Schöler