BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure - Jalopnik Comments

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

ZX2.0 — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:40:12 EST

This pollutes more than an IC-powered car. Compressors are no more efficient than car engines, and there's no way the compressed air engine is 100% efficient. So the tree hugger who runs the briggs & stratton air compressor to fill this thing up will find himself burning more gas rather than less. It just adds an extra step in the conversion of gasoline's chemical potential energy into acceleration for you car. Thermodynamics 101, kids

ZX2.0

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

sos10 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:13:24 EST

@wheels OF satan!: what about swapping an empty air container with a full one? If the car is designed right, it can be done in seconds.

I never understood why we don't do this for electric cars... just design the car with a quickly removable battery, swap at the filling station... where the empty battery is recharged.... just like you would do with your mobile phone in case you run out of battery and have no time to recharge..

sos10

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

Number_Six — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:56:36 EST

A.N.U.S. demonstrated an early model in that fine promotional video we watched yesterday. Its biggest problem seemed to be that it only had one wheel.

Number_Six

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

smokyburnout — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:08:25 EST

@Dr.Danger: in theory, i think that could work. would be good for getting you to the next air station...

but, think about this... what if, instead of carrying the compressed air onboard, the engine was able to compress its own? maybe by burning fuel in another cylinder of the engine... then inject fuel and spark into the cylinder with the compressed air in it... i could be on to something here.

smokyburnout

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

Hotrodelectric — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:19:54 EST

What I want to know is does it come with auto-pilot as an option?

Hotrodelectric

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

CARBONFIBER — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:51:57 EST

@danio3834:

Danio ol' boy, Im not sure if we can build one on your urine, yet, but we can make energy out of your number 2!

It is possible to make energy from household waste including waste from your toilet.

It may not be so easy to capture the farts from cows which is depleting the ozone faster than our muscle cars, but we can use their manure for energy & its being developed as we speak.

I think this compressed air concept is really on to something. There was a pgm on the Discovery chanel, but I wonder if it was him or someone else?

CARBONFIBER

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

Smells_Homeless — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:28:21 EST

I thought the aircar was supposed to be both gleaming alloy and two lanes wide. What gives?

Smells_Homeless

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

RoninianHoon — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:06:37 EST

@danio3834: Zing!

RoninianHoon

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

SRTSIX — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:51:03 EST

Nothing new here. A french company has been building air poweredn city cars and couriers for several years now. I saw in on the Discovery Chennel about 2 years ago. Interesting concept.

SRTSIX

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

SexCpotatoes — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:32:39 EST

will this car contain a heater?

I know that the engine does not get as warm as an internal combustion, but will it produce usable heat, or even air conditioning?

SexCpotatoes

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

beercheck — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:42:58 EST

@turbodan: I did the same thing. But I think it involved Sally's farts.

beercheck

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

danio3834 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:41:07 EST

Now build one that runs on my urine.

danio3834

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

turbodan — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:04:11 EST

Hmmm... interesting concept. Back in grade school I used to think of myself as a bit of an inventor, and sketched all sorts of crazy things out on paper. One was an air-powered car. Sadly I never had the means to execute on any of them, nor did I know what patents were... :-/

turbodan

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

M0L0TOV — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:02:54 EST

Why cunt I find a link to the video?

M0L0TOV

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

wheels OF satan! — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:40:06 EST

plus, its gonna take a LONG time filling up that car.. especially thru the small hose...
we fill brewery tanks, (only 30psi, not 3000 psi)
and have a 2 cylinder 3 phase 220v compressor going
/
and its not fast...

wheels OF satan!

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

wheels OF satan! — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:36:46 EST

@lascauxcaveman:
lloked like they were using some kind of carbon fiber for the tank... not steel ( see thing in engineers hands..)

wheels OF satan!

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

FЯeeMan is slowly cЯawling out of the new commenting system — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:28:31 EST

I wonder what kind of PSI they store in those tanks. Need more air capacity? Just install a sealed roll cage - tanks all around, baby!

FЯeeMan is slowly cЯawling out of the new commenting system

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

lascauxcaveman — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:15:52 EST

@beercheck: In that respect, the advantages are similar to electric. Fairly lightweight engine, and a big heavy energy source (battery or air tank) that can be scaled up or down depending on how long of a range you need, within reason. I find both these alternatives to be intriguing, at least for low-performance commuting and delivery vehicles.

Be interesting to compare the energy efficiency of the best compressed air vs. electric car of similar size/performance. @cgarison:

lascauxcaveman

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

Thirty-Nine — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:37:16 EST

I saw the "we chuckle at fill up procedure," I was hoping it was going to make an obnoxious farting noise while filling. Alas.

Thirty-Nine

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

cgarison — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:36:51 EST

@rgseidl: I would say the electric to compress the air in most American markets is significantly cheap enough to make this a good alternative to gasoline or diesel.

cgarison

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

beercheck — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:25:01 EST

@rgseidl: Another plus is the simplicity and light weight of the engine itself.

beercheck

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

pauln — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:17:13 EST

@beercheck: especially if you order the optional side-discharge nozzle.

pauln

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

rgseidl — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:13:46 EST

While a car running on compressed air does not emit toxic exhaust gases, chances are it will be fairly noisy. The crash safety of the tanks should be similar to those used for CNG. The auto body may be good enough in this respect if it is well-engineered (cp. smart fortwo).

Note that compressing air to high pressures in the first place requires a lot of electrical power, which has to be produced somewhere first. Unless you rely on nuclear power - which has its own environmental drawbacks - the indirect CO2 emissions caused by an air car will still be significant given that most power plants run on either coal or gas. Renewable electricity is a good deal more expensive.

The biggest advantage the air car has is that storing pressurized air on board a vehicle is much cheaper than storing an electric charge. The biggest risk is that European finance ministers will eventually invent new taxes to claw back the revenue lost due to drivers switching to cheap alternatives to gasoline and diesel.

rgseidl

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

beercheck — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:10:13 EST

You know, I'll have to dig into the potential energy involved in compressing different gasses, but I'll bet if you fill up with nitrous or helium you'll be able to blow the doors off the other guy at the stoplight.

beercheck

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

graverobber- It says Loud Pipes Save Lives — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:09:24 EST

"Caught wind of it..." That's comedy gold.

graverobber- It says Loud Pipes Save Lives

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

Mad_Science — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:06:32 EST

Forget the car that runs on water, man.

This thing runs on pure, clean air. Better keep it hidden or the oil companies' black helicopters are gonna swoop in and shut you down, man.

Mad_Science

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

beercheck — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:06:19 EST

@Charles_Barrett: Oh boy. Here we go.

beercheck

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

pauln — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:03:02 EST

@Charles_Barrett: Just teach the dragons some new tricks.

pauln

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

Charles_Barrett - Now with Variable-Valve Timing — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:01:32 EST

So are you supposed to roll into the filling station and ask the attendant to blow you...?

Charles_Barrett - Now with Variable-Valve Timing

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

snep — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:00:48 EST

@Rust-MyEnemy: JokeOTD

snep

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

pauln — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:00:00 EST

@sos10: But it is just another gas engine announcement.

pauln

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

beercheck — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:50:34 EST

I haven't met an efficient air compressor yet.

beercheck

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

sos10 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:45:01 EST

All jokes aside, this is so much more exciting then just another bigger gas engine announcement.

sos10

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

Rust-MyEnemy is stll out there! — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:44:56 EST

If it saves me money, then cool.

But will it beat inflation?

Ba-boom, tish.

Rust-MyEnemy is stll out there!

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

discontinuuity — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:38:16 EST

So would it be possible to add a boiler and make it steam powered? I imagine you might need to alter the valve timing due to the different densities of air and steam.

discontinuuity

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

jaydez — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:36:51 EST

bring it home for your wife/GF and ask if she wants you to inflate her tata for her.

jaydez

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

Dr.Danger, Hasta la victoria siempre! — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:36:13 EST

I can see it now,
Some dude on the side of the road with a bike pump trying to fill-er up.

*pump**pump**pump**pump**pump**pump*

Dr.Danger, Hasta la victoria siempre!

BBC Discovers Air Car, We Chuckle At Fill Up Procedure

Unevolved 8.04 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:35:28 EST

I only want one if it's been blessed by a priest.

Unevolved 8.04