“They Thought I was a Spy”
I don’t normally write about hybrid cars on this website, primarily because
a) Individual cars are not as eco friendly as public transport (but a lot more convenient, I know)
b) I don’t like the battery issue – hybrid cars have a battery which consumes considerable resources to manufacture and is not particularly eco friendly.
So I was interested to read about a new hybrid car which uses compressed air instead of a battery (as well as petrol / gasoline).
Why Hybrid Air?
It has several advantages over and above the environmental aspects:
- The compressed air option is much lighter than a battery and thus needs less energy to travel.
- Compressed air can power the car up to 80 percent of the time
- A Hybrid Air vehicle will be able to run emission-free in the city
- The air technology is cheaper than an electric battery.
- It should give about 80 miles per gallon, giving it an advantage over the Toyota Prius in both purchase price and fuel economy.
- The parts are simple and easily serviced, a fact that would be attractive in the emerging markets of China, India and Russia.
A car using compressed air was first introduced in 2008, but to my knowledge this is the first commercial roll-out of such a vehicle.
It’s been developed by PSA Peugot-Citroen, who say the car is designed for stop-start city driving, rather than long distances.
The concept is not radical (some delivery vehicles use a similar technology), but it’s good to see it finally going into commercial production.
Availability
The technology could possibly be incorporated into vehicles made by General Motors as part of an alliance agreement with PSA finalized in February 2012.
Having been unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2013, it should be in production by 2016.
Secrecy
One thing I really liked about the story of the car’s design was that the engineers couldn’t even tell their families about the project, it was so top secret.
Project leader Karim Mokaddem could not reveal any details, even to his wife and children. “They thought I had become a spy,” he joked.
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