106 mpg 'air car'

[AJ]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/08/08/air.car/index.html

foolish or interesting?

 

[mndsm]

Interesting, but I see it being along the lines of a plug in electric, more limited in scope and range, mostly due to size constraints.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

Interesting, but this one seems fishy...

 

[YSOSLO]

Interesting, but I see it being along the lines of a plug in electric, more limited in scope and range, mostly due to size constraints.

The article says "Gas still plays a role - The six-seater planned for the U.S. market would be able to reach speeds of more than 90 mph and have a range of more than 800 miles thanks to a dual energy engine," Vencat said.

I'd buy this thing in a heartbeat if the performance and mileage were even close to this.

 

[ij1889]

Interesting, but this one seems fishy...

foolish i say, it sounds to good to be true, there is something bout it that just doesnt match up

 

[dmention7]

The problem with all these alternative energy cars you hear reported is that they are so frequently "vaporware" so to speak. They get reported on while they are still some inventor's brainchild. And, while the technology may exist, there is a HUGE gap between a viable theoretical design and a viable business model. I think a lot of people are getting jaded after constantly being bombarded with these types of concepts and never seeing anything similar make it onto the market.

Bottom line, there is no significant technological hurdle between us and vehicles with this kind of capability... it's mostly logistical, political, marketing hurdles.

 

[YSOSLO]

Bottom line, there is no significant technological hurdle between us and vehicles with this kind of capability... it's mostly logistical, political, marketing hurdles.

You'd think there must be a billionaire out there SOMEwhere that wouldn't mind thumbing his nose at the world to make something like this happen. You could probably build in an extra 35% profit onto the total cost of each vehicle and STILL barely keep them in-stock if this type of performance was realized.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

YSOSLO, agreed. If it were as feasible as they would like to make it out to be, I would think Warren Buffet would have little issue putting the capital into such a firm to make it happen.

 

[dmention7]

That's why I made the distinction between technological hurdles, and logistical/political/marketing hurdles. The former can be solved by throwing money at it. The latter requires far far more than money--it involves swaying the opinions and attitudes not only of millions of individual consumers, but of giant corporations and infrastructures, all of whom are inclined to follow the path of least resistance. In which case, the fortune of a wealthy individual is a minuscule bump in the road.

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

I think there's more to it than that. It's not just a matter of being street legal and the like, and this product would not require additional infrastructure. If it were really feasible to build them at a reasonable cost and the claims were true, they would market themselves.

Granted infrastructure is a limiting factor of many designs, and possibly street legality, but I think feasibility and cost are two major ones that go ignored.