I’ve told a lot of people about the air car over the last year. Most haven’t heard of it, but they always seem to react positively to the concept. Any viable way to reduce the amount of carbon we add to the atmosphere has to be a good thing, but I’m almost always asked the same question.
“Why air?”
I’ve thought a lot about that question, and it has motivated me to do quite a bit of research on the companies developing these cars and how they work. I’ve watched every video, read every interview and article I could find, and I’ve concluded that there is a very good reason why compressed air is one of many great alternatives for us to use as a means of not only reducing our carbon footprint, but also creating potentially thousands of green collar jobs all over the United States.
The most important reason, in my own opinion, is that these vehicles are expected to achieve over 50% efficiency without the use of heavy, toxic and very expensive batteries. Unfortunately, battery technology is not as advanced, nor as affordable, as we would like it to be. The batteries that are available today are very expensive to produce, and they contain toxic chemicals that are dangerous to the environment if they are not disposed of properly or recycled.
The compressed air vehicles being developed by MDI will be zero to extremely low in carbon emissions, and according to Zero Pollution Motors, the first company licensed to manufacture and distribute the cars in the States, the most expensive non-commercial car is expected to cost only around $20k!
That’s a very reasonable price, especially considering how much money you will save in fuel costs over the lifetime of the car. Since there is no internal combustion in these vehicles, there will be significantly less maintenance required, which will also save you money. They will run much cooler, and oil changes will only be required every 30-50k miles, using a vegetable, and not petroleum, based oil.
There are huge implications there for the real challenge we are facing in the future. More and more people are buying cars, especially in emerging markets, and the numbers will only increase as more people enter the middle class. Unless most, if not all, of these vehicles are green alternatives, we will be looking at huge increases in C02 emissions. This is bad for the environment, bad for the economy, and bad for our health.
I have become convinced that the air car will be a great alternative mode of transportation that will be more affordable, and more green, then the current choices available to the vast majority of people around the world. They will also be built and sold locally, which is very good for the economy of the community in which they are sold. Potentially thousands of desperately needed green collar jobs could be created in the US alone.
I will be exploring these and other great details about the air car in future posts, as well as other related technology. I hope to share my enthusiasm with other people who are interested in these vehicles, and to do whatever I can to help bring them to the US market.
I would really like to hear your thoughts and opinions, so please check in again soon!
~joe
