gasolene is already the fuel of the past . It might not seem that way as you fill up on your way to oeuvre , but the crude oil used to make it is gradually running out . It also foul atmosphere that ’s becoming increasingly unhealthy to pass off , and people no longer require to pay the high price that crude oil company are charging for it . Automobile producer hump all of this and have drop lots of time and money to notice and develop the fuel of the hereafter .
The search is on , but what will this fuel of the future be ? quick - made fuels like petroleum are becoming more unmanageable to line up and automobile manufacturers are turning to greenish energy sources like battery . These batteries can be charge with energy and placed in a car where that energy can be released . As good as that idea might seem , some manufacturers think melodic line could become an even better vim source .
Air ? At first coup d’oeil , the idea of running a cable car on air seems almost too good to be true . If we can use air as fuel , why intend about using anything else ? atmosphere is all around us . Air never runs out . Air is nonpolluting . Best of all , air is devoid .
Unfortunately , air alone ca n’t be used as a fuel . First , DOE has to be stored in it by squeezing the aviation tightly using a mechanically skillful breeze compressor . Once the compressed air is release , it expands . This expanding air can be used , for example , to ram the pistons that power an locomotive . The idea of using compressed air to power a fomite is n’t new : Early prototypes of an air - power vehicle go back to the middle of the 19thcentury , even before the conception of the internal combustion engine .
At least one manufacturing business thinks that it ’s quick to sell melody cars to the American public . If all goes well , these cars could be available in the United States relatively presently [ source : Sullivan ] . Over the next few pages , we ’ll look at this engineering science , the reasons you may want to use it – and a few reasons you might not .
How Compressed Air Can Fuel a Car
The laws of physics order that uncontained gases will fill any given quad . The easiest means to see this in action is to amplify a balloon . The elastic skin of the balloon apply the atmosphere tightly inside , but the moment you use a peg to create a hole in the balloon ’s surface , the air expands outward with so much free energy that the balloon explodes . Compressing a gas into a small space is a way to stack away energy . When the gas expands again , that energy is released to do body of work . That ’s the basic principle behind what makes an tune car go.
The first air car will have air compressors ramp up into them . After a brisk drive , you ’ll be capable to take the cable car base , put it into the service department and punch in the compressor . The compressor will use air from around the auto to replenish thecompressed strain tank . Unfortunately , this is a rather slow method of fueling and will probably take up to two time of day for a complete refill . If the idea of an air car get on , melodic line refueling stations will become uncommitted at average gas stations , where the armoured combat vehicle can be refilled much more quickly with melodic phrase that ’s already been compressed . make full your armoured combat vehicle at the pump will probably take about three minutes [ source : Cornell ] .
The first air car will almost certainly use the Compressed Air Engine ( CAE ) developed by the Gallic fellowship , Motor Development International ( MDI ) . Air cars using this railway locomotive will have armored combat vehicle that will probably accommodate about 3,200 cubic feet ( 90.6 kiloliters ) of compressed air . The fomite ’s accelerator operate on a valve on its tank that allows line to be resign into a tobacco pipe and then into theengine , where the pressure of the air ’s expansion will push against the pistons and call on the crankshaft . This will produce enoughpowerfor speeds of about 35 statute mile ( 56 kilometers ) per hour . When the aura elevator car excel that f number , amotorwill kick in to operate the in - automobile atmosphere compressor so it can compress more air on the fly and provide extra power to the engine . The breeze is also heated as it hits the engine , increasing its volume to give up the motorcar to move quicker [ source : Cornell ] .
Air Car Advantages
One major advantage of using compressed air to power a car ’s locomotive is that a pure compact melodic line vehicle produces nopollutionat thetailpipe . More specifically , the constrict zephyr cars we ’re potential to see in the near futurity wo n’t pollute at all until they reach speeds top 35 miles per hr . That ’s when the automobile ’s internal breeze compressor will give up in to achieve extra speed . The motor that move this air compressor will need fuel that ’ll produce a small amount of line defilement . Some fuel ( you could practice eco - favorable biofuels or fossil fuels ) will also be used to ignite the air as it go forth from the tank . The new compressed air engine also offer driver the selection of using fossil fuel or biofuels to heat the air travel as it enters the engine . Nonetheless , this engineering represents a marked improvement over cars powered by internal burning engines that grow substantial sum of money of pollution at any velocity .
aviation cars are also designed to be lighter than formal cars . The aluminum construction of these vehicles will keep their weighting under 2,000 pounds ( 907 kilo ) , which is essential to make these vehicles fuel effective and will help themgo fasterfor farseeing geological period of time .
Another advantage of air cars is that the fuel should be remarkably cheap , an important consideration in this era of volatilegas prices . Some approximation say that the motorcar will get the combining weight of 106 miles ( 171 kilometre ) per gallon , although flat air will probably not be sell by the Imperial gallon . A more meaningful estimate is that it may take as little as $ 2 Charles Frederick Worth of electrical energy to replete the compressed air tankful , though you ’ll also need gasoline to power the galvanizing motor that compress air while driving [ source : Cornell ] .
The vehicles themselves also will be relatively cheap . Zero Pollution Motors , which project to unfreeze the first melodic line cars in the United States and estimates a spine price of about $ 17,800 , which would make these cars low-priced to budget - witting American buyers [ author : Max ] .
Air Car Disadvantages
While an melody car produces no pollution running on already compressed air in its tank , befoulment is nonetheless get when the air is compressed , both while the car is moving and while it ’s being refuel . As we name earlier , the vehicle ’s strain compressor will probably ply ongasoline , and this gas will produce pollution when fire .
The breeze compressor at the natural gas station will likely be power by electricity . The production of that electricity may or may not pollute , count on how that electricity is generated . For illustration , ember - powered electricity could produce solid amounts of contamination . Cleaner sources of electrical energy , such asnuclear powerorhydropower , will leave in far less pollution . allot to the Web site Gas 2.0 , an air car in the United States would create about .176 pounds of carbon dioxide discharge per naut mi based on the average mix of galvanic top executive sources during refueling . By comparison , a Toyota Prius Hybrid , which blend a stamp battery - poweredelectric motorwith an internal burning engine , engender about 0.34 pound of carbon dioxide per naut mi . So , while the melodic line car is not quite pollution barren , it still represents an improvement over one of the most popularhybrid carson the market [ source : Nuccitelli ] .
Distance could also become a disadvantage , depending on your change of location habits . The distance that an air travel car can cover without refueling is important because very few filling station will have compressed tune pumps useable at first . If you only design to use your air car for short commute – distances less than 100 sea mile –will be okay . However , the one - to - two hour wait for the car ’s build - in air compressor to compress a army tank full of air could become a trouble on cross - country trips . Zero Pollution Motors – the American weapon of MDI and the caller likeliest to produce the first air car for the U.S. market – aims to have a car available shortly able to journey between 800 and 1,000 miles on one tank car of air plus 8 congius of throttle [ origin : Cornell ] . Early image , however , have traveled distances closer to 120 miles – good enough for your daily commute , but not quite fair to middling for longer misstep [ informant : Motavalli ] .
What will materialise if an strain cable car suffers damage in an stroke ? After all , compact air tanks can be serious . To trim back this danger , the strain armoured combat vehicle are made of carbon fiber and are design to crack , rather than shatter , in a crash . This crack would permit the " fuel " to escape harmlessly into the fence melodic phrase . manufacturer feared that melodic phrase miss from one closing of the armoured combat vehicle could produce arocket - like effect and move the car on a jet of air . The valve on the cars ' fuel tanks has been placed on the side to minimise this effect .
Despite these forethought , there is some concern that the air travel cars ' lightweight construction might make it difficult for them to pass tight American safety requirements and that this could hold up the arriver of air cars in the U.S. market . Other cistron have come to the forefront as well , and we ’ll learn about those next .
Air Cars in the Marketplace
India ’s Tata Motors will belike produce the first breeze railcar in the marketplace in the next few year . Tata Motors ' air auto will also use the CAE railway locomotive . Although Tata denote in August 2008 that they are n’t quite quick to roll out their air gondola for aggregated production , Zero Pollution Motors still plans to bring forth a similar vehicle in the United States . have it off collectively as the FlowAIR , these automobile will be about $ 17,800 . The company , base in New Paltz , N.Y. , suppose that it will begin taking reservation in mid-2009 for vehicle deliveries in 2010 . The society plans to roll out 10,000 melodic line cars in the first year of production [ reservoir : Max ] . MDI also latterly unveiled thejoystick - driven AirPod , the new addition to its air auto arsenal . Although the AirPod generates a top speed of only 43 mph , it ’s also exceedingly light and generates zero emissions .
Major automobile makers are watching the atmosphere railcar grocery with stake . If the first models catch on with consumers , they ’ll likely develop their own air elevator car models . At present tense , a few smaller companies are be after to bring gentle wind cars to the market in the wake of the MDI - based vehicles . These include :
Initially , the MDI elevator car will be the only air vehicles on the market place . However , MDI has reportedly license the technology to manufacturing business in a dozen different countries , so air cars should be available around the world soon .
