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We reported earlier that Indian automaker Tata had entered an agreement to license compressed-air technology from French firm MDI. But we hadn't seen a prototype… until now. The MDI Air Car was discovered by Autoblog Green at the New York Auto Shows X-Prize display, confirming the goofiness of the concept. Think Manx dune buggy meets golf cart meets tree frog. No word yet as to how the vehicle (one hesitates to use the term "car" so loosely) will conform the 100mpg performance required for participation in the X-Prize. Although we typically embrace the use of revolutionary technologies, this one just seems way too far removed from reality… unless you want a carbon-neutral trip to the 19th hole.
12 Comments on “MDI Air Car Breaks Cover At NYIAS...”
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Compressed air cars were tried over a hundred years ago, without good success.
Think of an air powered car along similar lines as an electric car. Limited energy storage capabilities = limited size, limited range, limited speed and limited capabilities.
So the comparison to a golf cart is apt!
Technology on both has moved along at a snail’s pace, compared to other technology improvements in the same time.
Here’s an application where a “fart can” muffler actually makes sense.
gas mileage is great, but let’s talk about safety for a second………
I’m no SUV pusher (sure, YOU’LL be safer in a wreck, but how many will you kill in the process??), but I do like the feeling that my car will absorb at least SOME of the wreck…
Pow-pow-Power Wheels!
Seriously, that looks like something I might buy my son for his upcoming second birthday.
It costs a lot of dough to compress air. This will never fly.
I want a car that runs on static electricity produced by rubbing a balloon on my head.
. . . dune buggy meets golf cart meets tree frog.
Absolutely spot-on description! It does look like a frog.
It depends on the electric utility and the time of day.
If you’re doing it a 3pm on a hot a weekday afternoon the marginal cost to the utilty is crazy high on the order of $0.25-.50+/kWH.
At 2AM in the morning the cost almost nothing as the big coal and nuclear plants that provide base load can only throttle back so much. Many utilities have a special super off peak Electric Vehicle charging rate of .04-.06/kWH. You could likely get a similar dear to run the compressor for your air-car if the tech were to catch on.
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It costs a lot of dough to compress air. This will never fly.
Something’s under that cover:
http://www.theaircar.com/acf/air-cars/air-cars.html
Stein X Leikanger :
Something’s under that cover:
And it ain’t a “tree-frog”…
FWIW, the main “problem” with mass-production hybrids/EV’s is the high cost and limited availability of raw materials for the primary storage medium: Batteries.
One could say that the “Air Car” solves this problem quite well.
Of course, if it’s a green golf cart driving around inside a gated community, emitting an exhaust note akin to a Bronx Cheer, few will sign on.
How dare they call this a ‘debut’? These things ‘debuted’ maybe 50 years ago…at traveling carnivals and county fairs!
They’re still there, going around and around in circles under the funny round awnings (always turning left, in honor of NASCAR), with happy toddlers strapped in as display models.
100 MPG seems a little optimistic. I’d probably guess their mileage at about 4-5 laps per carnival ticket.
Seriously, could they have done any MORE to prevent people from taking this ‘car’ seriously? Engineering aside, they’ve set themselves back five years with this prototype.
If you are interested to invest in the MDI company, my wife and I are willing to sell some of our shares of MDI. We support financially MDI since 1992 and hold then so 1 % of the capital.
After 16 years we decide to realise a part of our investment !
Our selling price will be less (market oblige) as the last transfers made by M Nègre himself (he held 2/3 of the capital). If you have a serious interest please write us : martinmarschner(at)hotmail.com