By Gary Dickson
I recently received an e-mail about something that could have a monumental impact on the entire world. The message was about a compressed air-powered car being developed by Tata Motors of India. The strange thing about it was that I found out the story was originally printed by Popular Mechanics magazine in 2007. The article said that the cars would be released the next summer in India. It”s 2011 and they are still not being sold anywhere.
An additional air-powered auto search took me to another Popular Mechanics article. This one was dated April 22, 2010 and was about Californian Derek McLeish who set a land speed record for air-powered vehicles last year. His vehicle reached a scorching 54.058 mph. Still, the more recent news makes me optimistic that this whole air-powered car issue isn”t just a lot of hot air.
Imagine a world filled with automobiles that give off no harmful emissions, go 50,000 miles between oil changes and when you do drain the old oil, it just takes one quart of vegetable oil to refill the crankcase. The air emitted from the tailpipe is clean and cold; from zero to 15 degrees below zero. The exhaust can actually serve as the cold air source for interior air conditioning. The air tank could be filled in the evening, for a few pennies of electricity, while you relax. Think of what you could do with the money you save from not having to purchase gas? The thought of this possibility gives me more hope for the future.
The 1973 Arab Oil Embargo impacted all Americans in one way or another. Back then, not only did we rely on imported oil to fuel our gas guzzling cars, but it was also used extensively by the large utility companies to produce energy for home and business consumption. The oil embargo served as a fork in the road for the utilities. They transitioned away from imported oil to natural gas and coal from U.S. reserves, and to other energy sources, such as nuclear and wind.
Why the auto industry didn”t work harder than it did to create more fuel efficient cars and vehicles that utilized different power sources when we started having trouble with the Arab oil exporters is a mystery. I have always assumed it was because the big oil companies are so powerful and so well-connected corporately and politically.
It was 26 years after the embargo, 1999, when Honda released the Insight, the first hybrid car sold in the United States. The 2011 Chevrolet Volt is the first mass produced totally electric-powered vehicle to be sold in America. Robert Anderson, from Scotland, actually built the first electric carriage between 1832 and 1839. At about the same time, two Frenchmen built and successfully tested a compressed air car. It was tested on a track in Chaillot on July 9, 1840.
So, why did we wind up mass-producing cars that run on petroleum? The Drake Oil Well in Pennsylvania in 1859 changed everything when it comes to fuel. For 100 years we had plenty of oil and at cheap prices, but ever since we started needing to import a large percentage, things have changed. According to a report by Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy, and also a Nobel physicist, the United States consumes 20 million barrels of oil per day. We import 57 percent of the oil we use and 70 percent of all the oil we consume is for transportation.
So what if the current top-speed of an air-powered vehicle is 54 miles per hour. From 1974 to 1987 55 mph was the federally mandated maximum speed limit. Anyway, Derek McLeish said it is just a matter of time before he reaches 300 mph in an air-powered vehicle.
It would be great to drive vehicles that don”t harm the environment and also to be able to say “No, thanks.” to the countries currently holding us hostage with $100 per barrel oil prices.
Gary Dickson is the publisher of the Record-Bee. Call him at 263-5636, ext. 24. E-mail him at gdickson@record-bee.com.
