Car Powered by Compressed Air

gripperzipper writes "CNN reports that a Korean company created a small car powered by compressed air. ENERGINE created its PHEV, or Pneumatic-Hybrid Electric Vehicle, which uses a two-stroke compressed air engine for start, acceleration, and uphill climbs. The car switches to an electric motor when its speed reaches 20-25 km/h (32-40 mi/h). Although major auto manufacturers have invested heavily in gasoline hybrids, it will be interesting to see if a market will open for this type of vehicle." Update: 04/04 17:18 GMT by T : Reader Tapsu spotted the incongruity here, writing "Interesting post, but the speed conversion has gone wrong way: "20-25 km/h (32-40 mi/h)". ... Thus the correct speed range in miles would be something like 12-15 mi/h."

Comments

No, they're not.

[Gordonjcp]

Lots of cars and vans in the UK and EU are powered by LPG. They're not dangerous. The tank can't burst, and there is a check valve on the outlet regulator block similar to the valve on the gas meter in your house that prevents gas escaping if the outlet is left open.

They are far safer in a fire, too. If there is an overpressure in the cylinder, the gas is slowly vented, where it burns. With a petrol tank, as the fuel heats up the pressure rises until the tank bursts (because they're either plastic or thin steel).

Re:Still energy

[kfg]

Electric engines have the disadvantage of having little power. . .

Beg pardon? Not to mention the fact that their torque curves are the stuff that give drag racers wet dreams.

The only disadvantage electric motors have over combustion engines of any kind is, well, that they run on electricity, which has to come from somewhere.

Which turns out to be rather inconvenient.

The compressed air booster is just one way of finding some sort of dodge around the whole battery issue, and I'm not convinced it's a good one. A true hybrid seems a better solution to me, although it lacks the politically correct advantage of hiding its energy use and emissions from public view.

Bear in mind that I'm actually quite fond of compressed gas engines and have actually built a few small ones, just for my personal enjoyment and edification, but I haven't, outside of the realm of entertainment, found any problem for which they are the solution.

KFG

Re:Your local station's pump isn't nearly enough

[morzel]

You've obviously never seen a scuba tank explode.

Energy density on these things may not be that high, but they can release all of it in a fraction of second. On top of that, if it goes, it will send fragments of the tank like shrapnell all over the place. I wouldn't want to be sitting in the car where such a tank explodes.
Or more detailed: I wouldn't want to be sitting in any car where anything explodes (outside the confines of the explosion engine, of course ;-)