Running on air

A technology blossoms when the timing is right. The first patent for a gasoline/electric car was sought in 1905 by U.S. engineer H. Piper.

[Rob]

Finally we can quit importing foreign air!

[centralscrutiniz er]

I've heard about the compressed-air idea before, on Discovery Channel and at the New York Auto show. MDI plans on having cars for sale in the US by 2010 for something like $18,000 apiece. How much anyone want to bet that as soon as they build one that backs up all the claims, Washington will outlaw it, citing some obscure DOT regulation? I have a hard time believing Big Oil will simply acquiesce to an air compressor when they have billions invested in infrastructure alone-

[Radian]

Another interesting older technology that may ake a comeback is the Stirling engine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine

[PfB]

The scuderi engine design runs on gas and allows lost compressed air to be stored, this will improve fuel efficiency substantially. They also claim to have then potential of 80 percent fewer emissions than todays engines. Big oil should have no problems with this and neither should our government.