How Far Away is the New Air Car?
Since posting this blog in June 2007 the price of fuel in Australia where I live is about to go over the $1.60 au a litre bracket. Now that is hurting the average Australian here, who really has little choice but to pay it.
A new site I have found about the Air car is to be read from here.
Alternatives must be found and this car I am using as an introduction of what might be waiting around the corner for many of us in the near future.....
Filling up the family car has become a nightmare in Australia for many families.
Last look and the standard unleaded petrol price was Au Dollar1.39 per litre. When you understand that most families do need a car to get them from point A to B in this country it becomes a necessity more than a luxury. However with the current cost escalating very quickly, it makes one think of alternatives.
After discussing this with a friend I was alerted to the new Air Cars.
I know we have prototypes of these and other vehicles coming through and so a search found some very interesting data about especially these Air Cars.
What do you think the future holds for us motorists and what do you know of alternatives that are up and coming our way. An interesting discussion I am sure we can all glean from each other across the globe.
Have a look at these sites below and have a read first.
Come back and tell me what you think is the answer if you have one?
PM to 'increase ACCC powers over petrol'
Thursday Jun 7 12:49 AEST 2007
Prime Minister John Howard indicated he was willing to give the competition watchdog greater powers to deal with claims of petrol gouging by oil companies.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Graeme Samuel has put oil companies on notice that they face greater regulation if bowser prices fail to rise and fall in line with benchmark indicators.
Motorists are again facing a hike in the petrol price ahead of a long weekend, despite international benchmarks falling through May.
This is an article from the newspaper today and it is about time that he addressed this situation. However the problems do still remain and we are running short of time. We do not need band aids. We need a good healing time ahead, as granny always said get some good fresh air in to your lungs. Maybe the Air Car will supply that?
The ECOGEEK Discusses Air Cars and many other green issues well worth reading and I have given the general link. Great site this one.
Hello to anyone looking for this post LOL.
ReplyDeleteI'm here, but will have to come back later to look at all the information.
ReplyDeleteI can say that in the USA, we are looking at refining water since 2006 as a source of fuel, and also have been experimenting with corn fuels the past 10 years.
i some how remember walk don't run by ventures here
ReplyDeletebetter health better environment better excercise
and if there could be only proper public transportation system
nothing like that.
here in india a student of age 13 seldom walks a mile a day?
lands up with peri athritis at the age of 32 itself and heart attack at age 42 itself
for better health perhaps people are going for walking riding the car?
I see the premise behind this, and it seems like a good idea. But they don't talk about the parts of the car that will still need fluids. Fluids that are still needed to make a car run ... break fluid, transmission fluid, or have I missed something here?
ReplyDeleteOdd to see this, for I remember as a kid ready the Sunday Funnies, they always had a section called Future Moments or something like that. One of the things was an air-powered car. This was back in the late 50's, but it was speculation based on sci-fi stories and such.
Here, in the states, we had another form of car for a few years, but wasn't well received and is trying for another comeback is the electric car. Similiar to the air car, but run on electrical energy like a car battery. A 24 hour charge could give about 20 hours of actual drive time at an average mileage of 65 mph at a distance of about 500-600 driven miles. This is all well and good except then, it needs recharged for another full 24 hours, but no fuel is needed, nor a transmission, or oil.
Today, people are looking for alternatives. I mentioned two earlier, now there is the electric car and of course the air car. I don't buy however that a car with air can travel 3500 without a "fill up" on air. That's the same as the lie car manufacturer's said to us for years about estimated highway miles for example: 45 on the highway and 26 in the city, when in truth it was more like 28 and 18. Pure hype to get you to buy something you felt was economical and efficient.
... and, if this does take off on a round the world level, air-stations will replace gas stations. Portable air tanks, specifically made for vechiles will be made and sold for over the road drivers. At what cost to the consumer? They say today, for only a couple dollars ... at one time gas prices I remember being as low as 4 cents a gal., less than 54 years ago. Air tanks will not be cheap, eventually air compressors will also skyrocket (air tanks), after all someone has to make the air tanks.
What of the strength and durability of one of these air cars in an accident? There is still a lot to say about this, but time and testing is still the major key.
Here in the states, I don't see a big influx to happen here. Regulators and our Government will most likely shoot this down for other alternatives. Why? It's all about money? Curtail or end business with the oil industries today, and there is no revenue. No one to tax on top of tax.
Personally, I like the idea. I just won't be alive to see it happen here. But if I am, I'll take you for an air spin tour of the states.
thanks Bill and i think while you were reading and writing I placed the correct link to Eco Geek. A good selection of Green reads on that site always.
ReplyDeleteIts all about the doh rah me for sure and we here are over burdened by the amount of tax we pay per litre on fuel. This is huge big money spinner for governments and the rich companies and like you I feel it will not be embraced all so readily. The dollar or the mullah rules in our day and age. I know about the electric car and to be honest what we see being ridden by the aged here are the electric gophers which cost a pittance to run and at this stage do not attract other charges ie regos or licenses or insurances. Well not just yet.
As for sci fi it is proven that many inventions have come from through from Sci fi. How interesting to think about this. You mentioned what you remember and as you see, it has materialised. Bloomin amazing actually.
Got to go with you about the way they find any excuse to make more profit on anything that is necessary to our survival these days. I also remember when LPG was introduced here and we went and paid big money for the tanks to be installed in our cars.
At that stage it was said that the gas was a by product and therefore cheap to sell. Uh oh not now it has become a profit making exercise and weighs in at about the same cost as petrol to run and in some places even more.
So we are all in the game called life where number crunching is the name of the game.
I hope you do stay around to see the fun and games and all the new/old ideas put into place as it is a given, because without this change we are all gonners.
My Dear Shankar secretary i thank you for your information here regarding my older version of this post. aAl fixed now my dear. The answer to your comment is that I agree with you and ifffff the system for public transport was a good as yours there and I know I talk in the upper millions per day, who use it and I must not forget to mention that is is like a well oiled machine in many ways in its efficiency, well here we just did not plan so well. What a great shame.
The company's high-performance electric Roadster has a 220 mile range and a lithium ion battery that will retain its performance and range for 100,000 miles before needing a three hour replacement operation. It is manufactured at the Lotus plant in England, but the power train is installed in the US.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, details on its forthcoming vehicle – a low-end model called the Whitestar – remain scarce. "It will be a four door, five passenger Sedan selling for around half the price of the Roadster, so it will cost $55,000 to $65,000," Maizmand said. "We are still targeting the 2010 model year."
I got this from the website for telsa and just shook my head. Wow, isn't this great? A lithium ion battery good for 100,000 miles, gotta love that and ... for only 55-65 thousand! Wow! Yeah --------------> right. Practically free travel and a car that'll take you the rest of your life to pay for!
No wonder they are only rolling out about 20 cars a week.
Whose bright idea was this? LOL
Yes, the price of gas is certainly killing us here. My husband has to drive about 30 miles of winding country roads to work and back each day! Maybe one day it will be cheaper not to drive to work and just stay home... I don't know... We got 150 gallons of oil for heating the house and it was about $600.00. Needless to say we have been burning a lot of wood in our wood stove this year.
ReplyDelete