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This is a legit technology. A friend of mine is working on what Charlie noted and MDI is trying to do, heat the air coming out of the tank in stages for a drag car.
It is a tricky thing and new technology is always going to get the stink eye, but since we know that physics rules we can isolate the shortcomings and work for solutions. ICE are going to be unmatched. The reason they were at the front end of our engine development (after the steam engine) is because it was so darn easy to turn a high energy fuel into motion.
What we are trying to do now, in my time in the auto industry, was get a fuel source that could hold that much energy or more efficiently use the energy that is stored. An ICE is extremely inefficient, but the fuel is packed with sooooo much energy it is hard to not turn it into motion.
The air car will come, I can't wait for it. There are cooling issues and also efficiency issue, the same as an ICE, but the aircar is more of a alternative fuel as opposed to an energy reduction. I don't think compressed air can ever match the energy storage capacity of gasoline, but it offers an alternative to gasoline that IMO probably won't ever be "as good." We are still working on the fuel source to change that, but for now we need to look into lots of options. This is just one alternative to help get us off of gasoline.
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