Edmunds Exclusive Test Drive: MDI's 2010 AIRPod Car Not Just a Lot of Hot Air
At the heart of the 2010 MDI AIRPod is a piston engine that runs on compressed air.
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The MDI AIRPod air car can motor along at 30 mph, fueled entirely by compressed air.
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The engine is "fueled" by a system of high-pressure air tanks constructed of lightweight carbon-fiber that, when the first production models are built by year's end, will operate at substantially less than the 10,000-psi rating of hydrogen tanks used in some fuel-cell vehicles.
Green Car Advisor's Nick Kurczewski flew to Nice, France, recently to discover if Luxembourg-based Motor Development International might be developing a zero-emissions car capable of changing the world as we know it.
You'll no doubt recall the First Ride piece Nick did for us last December, when he was the first North American journalist to be treated to a ride in one of the low-speed city cars.
Now we're glad to report that Nick got a chance to actually road test the bubblelike vehicle, the results of which appear on Edmunds Inside Line.
Without going into detail here, Nick found that improvements need to be made to drown out the engine din, to cushion the ride, and to increase performance and range.
But he also found that the air car is very much for real, which alone should make eco-minded car enthusiasts hopeful that air power can gain a foothold in the automotive world - as opposed to a just a footnote in some history book.
- Posted by
- Scott Doggett July 13, 2009, 7:34 AM
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- Categories:
- Compressed Air, Emissions, MDI
- Technorati Tags:
- Air Car, AIRPod, Alternate Fuel, Alternative Fuels and Vehicles, Compressed Air, MDI
The aircar at the 08' NYIAS looked so much better than this thing.
http://cinycphoto.deviantart.com/art/MDI-OneCAT-Aircar-82115492
The big question is which is more efficent?
Using electricity to power a very large, very powerful compressor or to use electricity to charge a set of batteries.