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Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.

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READY FOR A CAR FUELED BY AIR.......?

Well, OK…...the “fuel” isn’t air, of course. The power source is an engine that uses compressed air to drive the pistons…..but the energy to compress the air is produced by some more conventional power source. Central generation of electricity is more efficient than burning hydrocarbons in individual cars, they tell us - so these cars qualify as “green”, even when they come in other colors…...
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Nègre and company assert the AirPod can hit 43 mph, by way of MDI’s 5.45 hp compressed-air motor with traditional pistons like an internal combustion engine. At 15-20 miles per hour, they say, the AirPod has a range of 130+ miles per tankful. Sporting a body of plastic composite, the AirPod is just 82 inches long, 63 inches wide and 79 inches high, and expected to come in passenger and cargo versions, each weighing under 500 pounds.

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This particular one is a replacement for the golf cart in many applications, it seems to me. But larger and more powerful ones are promised. Many questions remain…..

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My first one is: What pressure will be needed? Will we be able to refill the tank at home, or will “service stations” be necessary? If the latter, I don’t think these will “fly”.
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Second: if these are intended for city streets and actual roads, what about the safety issues? Isn’t the weight/power ratio going to condemn these to marginal uses?
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Not that those uses aren’t important, of course…..but if we can’t commute regularly in them, or use them for inter-city trips, then I can’t see that they’re much more than a small contribution to solving the problems we have.
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Lots of small contributions can help enormously, though—so, “On With The Show”, say I.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 11/06 at 10:23 AM

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