New “Earth Friendly” Car Runs On Compressed Air

By James Donahue

January 2006

A French engineer named Guy Negre has developed a totally new concept of an automobile that appears to be non-polluting and requires very little fuel.

This engine uses high pressure compressed air to push the two cylinders that power it, and stores the compressed air in tanks that can be somewhat replenished by an electric motor powered while the vehicle is in motion. It also can be designed to operate in conjunction with carbon-fueled alternative motors, depending upon the wishes and needs of the vehicle’s owner.

You might think the concept sounds impossible and somewhat like a perpetual motion machine. And you would be right. The vehicle has a limit as to the speed and distance it can travel before it needs to get more compressed air in its tank. And the vehicle it powers is very small, lightweight, and designed mostly for short trips and around-town travel.

With environmental issues looming, and the world facing peak oil demands, the automobile companies are working overtime to come up with alternative powered cars. There seems to be some interest in compressed air driven vehicles. In fact, companies in France and South Korea are about to market vehicles that operate on this engine.

The vehicles are aimed at urban motorists, delivery vehicles, taxi drivers and people who only use their car to occasionally go shopping. They are not high powered, but they can get you where you wish to go and back at very low cost, and without great harm to the environment.

We cannot say there is no harm.

The tank in these vehicles holds air compressed at pressure about 150 times the amount used to pump up automobile tires. Even if the vehicle is equipped with an on-board air pump, it probably will not keep up with the demand for compressed air needed to keep the vehicle operating for a long period of time.

The little car can reach speeds up to 65 miles an hour, and travel up to 200 kilometers before it needs more compressed air.

Thus owners will have two options. They may park their vehicles at home, hook an electric cable to the on-board air pump for four hours every night, or they can purchase compressed air at air stations, once such stations become available. The technology exists to force-fill the tank in about three minutes.

No matter how you get it, capturing this much compressed air is going to demand alternative power; most likely electricity.

As we all know, electric power plants are among the world’s worst environmental polluters. Most are either coal or nuclear powered facilities that take their toll on the world on which we live.

Consequently, the car cannot claim to be totally earth friendly. But while on the road it is a cleaner operating car than the ones that cram the highways and byways of the world today. It does not emit carbon monoxide or other toxins from its tailpipe. Thus it will give its owner/operator a sense of doing something positive for the earth.

The problem is that electric power cord used to “recharge” or “recompress” the energy needed to make this car run is not coming to you pollution free. And if enough of these cars come into existence, the demand on the world electric generating plants could be massive.

Is this new car the answer to our pollution crisis? Probably not, but it appears to be a move in the right direction.

At least the automakers are looking for solutions. With so many humans now packing this planet, going back to the horse and buggy will not solve anything either.