Hot Air Car anyone?

Talk about alternative power.

After almost a decade of thinking, tinkering and tweaking, Guy Negre, through his company Motor Development International, is set to start early this year the actual production run of cars that are fueled by nothing but air. However, questions are also raised whether the feasibility of such air-powered cars are also nothing but hot air.

On spec sheets alone, the MDI Air Car has a lot going for it. For starters, it relies on one of the cheapest sources of fuel. A full tank of compressed fresh air is estimated to cost about EU1.50 in France, where the vehicle will first be produced and sold. A tankful allows the vehicle a mileage of 200 kilometers or so in between fuel stops. Probably more if one drives at a more leisurely pace, or below the vehicle’s 110 kph top speed.

Another is the Air Car’s relatively simple design. Underneath its ultralight polyurethane and reinforced foam bodywork that’s mounted on an aluminum tubing chassis are existing components found on other vehicles in the market. The fiberglass tanks that hold the compressed air, for one, are the same stuff already being used for some commercially sold, conventional fuel powered cars. As quoted in one interview, Negre’s son Cyril said the Air Car is "really just like any normal car, only put together in another way."

Air, compressed to 4,500 pounds per square inch – or about 150 times more than what one usually inflates his car’s or bicycle’s tires to – is fed to a conventional internal combustion engine that’s modified to use compressed air instead of gasoline or other fossil fuels. An air injector – as opposed to a fuel injector or carburetor – forces the air into the cylinders, pushing the pistons down and thus rotating the crankshaft, thereby creating power. All without any combustion taking place.

Response to the Air Car has generally been favorable. Already, 32 companies or private entrepreneurs have signed up in producing the vehicle. Which is quite a good thing, since MDI does not have the finances to build a significant number of units. Instead, what MDI has done is to offer franchises costing $10 million each for a completely built-up MDI factory capable of churning out 9,000 vehicles a year. MDI, in turn, will only control the parent factory in Nice, France.

Also, Negre himself is in no way perceived as anything close to the stereotypical mad inventor. Negre was a Formula One engine designer, therefore his credentials are quite solid. In fact, it was during his F1 stint when he first toyed around with the compressed air idea. Meanwhile, Cyril was a former engineer at Bugatti before working at MDI. Clearly, while the company maybe small, it’s not considered an oddball operation either.

But as with any new technology, especially one that involves saving the planet, the Air Car is not without any shortcomings–or detractors. The Air Car can be refueled in three minutes flat, but only at filling stations equipped with special air pumps–a lot of which are non-existent just yet. The car has its own air compressor that can be plugged in at any electrical outlet, but that process needs four hours to complete. The basic infrastructure to support the Air Car’s use is clearly not sorted out yet.

Then there is also the issue that potential customers, with all their well-meaning intentions or politically-correct posturing, may still be wary of plunking down $10,000 for a yet untested piece of technology. We’re talking more than just organically grown tokwa here, after all. Major car companies have hedged their bets on hydrogen-powered cars–which produces only water in its emissions. But these vehicles may not be ready for at least five years. By that time, Negre is hoping the Air Car has proven its potential.

Ironically, criticism also comes from tree-hugging, lying-down protesting environmentalists. Critics say the cars merely move the air pollution away from the tailpipe into someplace else–electrical power plants for instance. The Air Car does require electricity in order for its air to be compressed, and fossil fuels are still needed in producing electricity. As a Greenpeace campaigner puts it, "It’s how the energy is made that really matters."

However, Negre said the Air Car’s purpose is to just be a clean alternative to conventional fuel cars, particularly on traffic-choked urban streets. The Air Car won’t spew out toxic fumes and add to the already smog-polluted air that typifies most cities these days.

The best and illustrative argument going for the Air Car is found on its tailpipe; it emits air you can actually breathe. It may not be for all Metro Manilans though, who through the years have learned not to trust air that can’t be seen.