Article: Peugeot Citroen unveil new 117mpg [Air] hybrid

[cfg83]

Hello -

We've talked about this car before but this appears to be a new drivetrain layout, Old Mech style :

Peugeot Citroen: Coming soon, the car that runs on air | Mail Online

If you have ever grimaced at your petrol bill and dreamed of a car that runs on fresh air, your prayers are about to be answered.
French car giant PSA Peugeot Citroen believes it can put an air-powered vehicle on the road by 2016.
Its scientists say it will knock 45 per cent off fuel bills for an average motorist. And when driving in towns and cities costs could be slashed by as much as 80 per cent because the car will be running on air for four-fifths of the time.
The system works by using a normal internal combustion engine, special hydraulics and an adapted gearbox along with compressed air cylinders that store and release energy. This enables it to run on petrol or air, or a combination of the two.

CarloSW2

[Flakbadger]

I saw this article today and was going to post it, but searched Ecomodder first and found YOUR post!

What an interesting idea for a hybrid. It makes perfect sense to me.

Here's the link I found. Same story, different site.

[ChazInMT]

Saw this on Automobile Mag and thought y'all would want to look.




Link

[ChazInMT]

Automobile Mags version of the story Here.

[freebeard]

It gives a whole new meaning to 'compression braking'.

I guess flywheel storage is falling behind. I would think a flywheel energy store would need less space than those tanks. They use them on buses.

[pete c]

I wonder how it compares to electric storage on a lbs/watt basis. Are there safety issues with having a tank under extreme pressure sitting next to you?

[Sven7]

I wonder how much space it will take for the range... this would be an interesting alternative for an electric streamliner

[wdb]

I find the best part of all to be that there are no batteries. That's a lot of extra weight gone, a lot of extra complexity (battery cooling etc.) gone, a lot of extra cost gone, and a considerable ecological impact gone. I'm very very impressed, and I hope the vehicles are successful.

I watched the video and I'm a bit confused by the hydraulic component. I assume that the pumps are there to convert velocity to pressure and vice versa, but how do they work? Is it as simple as a vaned fan, ala turbocharger, spinning the pump (or vice versa)?

Edit: the more I think about this the more it tends to stand a lot of my hypermiling techniques on their head. If I want to use air power a lot, I will have to stop a lot! No more timing traffic lights.

[NeilBlanchard]

Accumulators are heavy, too.

This car is the subject of an older thread, though it doesn't mention it by name until later in the thread:

They aren't going away (hydraulic hybrids)

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by wdb

That's a lot of extra weight gone, a lot of extra complexity (battery cooling etc.) gone, a lot of extra cost gone...

As that tank is pressurized it will get hotter than a firecracker.

I watched the video and I'm a bit confused by the hydraulic component

Me too. My best guess is that is a pig in the tube shaped tank with air on one side and hydraulic fluid on the other. And lots of it.