Robin informs me this is NOT another compressed air car. It is the
same one. Oops. Not paying close attention.
It seems more practical than some of the earlier compressed air cars
I read about years ago.
One of the experts quoted at CNN wonders whether the thing would
really be more efficient or cheaper than a plug-in hybrid. That's
difficult to judge. It seems like a simpler design which is a big
plus. Look under the hood of a Prius and you will be both impressed
and dismayed at the complexity. All those gadgets crammed together!
It could not be done before the 21st century. It is hard to see how
it can be done cheaply anytime soon.
Look under the hood of a Model-A Ford sometime. It is astounding how
simple those machines were. They seem almost like an abstract
sculpture representing an engine, or a child's toy, rather than an
actual engine.
Those engines had to be simple the way people used to treat them. In
Russia, in wintertime they used to start tractors by pouring gasoline
over the engine block and igniting it with a blow torch, "just to
warm them up a bit" as they explained. During the war the US sent
Russia a bunch of lend lease tractors which they tried to start up
the same way. After doing this a few times the tractors were reduced
to a pile of burned-out junk left standing in the fields. The US
Embassy lend-lease officials dispatched my father to a communal farm
to find out what the problem was, and why all those tractors were
breaking down. The farmers told him: "these American tractors just
aren't tough enough for us."
- Jed
