Electric cars could start a grab for natural resources on par with the petroleum industry; is compressed air the answer?
Posted 09.29.2008 at 11:50 am
7 Comments
Compressed-Air Porsche
GIMM, Inc.
If you thought the rise of petroleum caused global economic upheavals, just wait until we start producing electric-car batteries in mass quantities. That's the warning from Glenn Bell, CEO of Air Fuel Auto. Bell told reporters at this weekend's Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica the need for precious metals and other raw materials for next-generation batteries could have a ripple effect on the global economy. Of course, Bell isn't a passive observer; he's got his own answer to the alternative-fuel question. You're breathing it.
Bell brought to the Expo a one-off 1999 Porsche Boxster powered by a system he calls MIIN-AER, or Minimally Intrusive, Intensely pNeumatic Air Energy Recovery system. With patents pending, details are sketchy, but apparently it channels the potential energy of compressed air by way of temperature differences. Leaving aside the many gas- and thermodynamics questions, the system as installed in the Porsche apparently can travel 40 to 45 miles per hour, with a range of 50 miles. Bell says a second phase will capture thermal energy from braking to provide better numbers, with a short-term goal set of a 100-mile range at 50 mph.
[Via Autoblog Green]
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There is no information here. So I'm guessing the system uses compressed air as some form of a battery, to store energy and release at a later time?
It's nice that someone is saying there are alternatives but there is no info here to get excited about.
Click the link in the story for more info.
Air compress car have been around for years now. Tata recently bought the french manufacture that is making such cars.
Now porsche is using compressed air! I hope the negative commenters on Chevy Volt 2011 are reading these articles, ohhhhh yeah!
I seen a live demonstration of this from someone at a car show trying to get some attention. I believe that we we're near the Lamborghini's. This was not that long ago and It worked in front of my eyes on a small scale. So get some college boys and some popularity and we could see some engineering, maybe.
I went to the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo, but didn't happen to notice this particular car. There are several similar cars that have been built in Australia, France and India (google it), and as I recall there is at least one of them in limited production.
One of the pluses of an air-driven car is that, as any gas is compressed, it becomes hot; as it decompresses, it gets colder. That's how an air conditioning system works. So the exhausted air that drives the air motor can be used directly to cool the car in hot weather, without any extra hardware.
China is the main source of lithium used in most of the high-tech batteries today, and considering our chilly relationship with them, that is a potential problem. But ultracapacitors from Eestor, Inc., that use plentiful, cheap phosphates rather than lithium as the key ingredient may give us a way to power electric cars without depending on China.
The air motors used in compressed air cars would be far simpler than fuel-driven cars, simpler even than the Wankel engine; but any such air cars should use rotary rather than reciprocating designs in order to run most efficiently.
The main downside of compressed air cars is that it requires a lot more energy to compress the air than the energy you can extract from that compressed air once it has cooled down, so there is a significant loss of efficiency. I would much rather drive an electric car than one running on compressed air, but I still feel it is important that we try to develop air motors in the event there are unforeseen problems in developing an electric vehicle infrastructure.
Air compression as a tool to travel seems great, but others have noted it takes a lot of energy to compress the air. We should be looking at all alternatives for the future, and this is one. Let's see how far the design can go.
http://timelessrides.ning.com/profiles/blogs/classic-car-insurance