Air Powered Car, Round 2: Fuel Vapor
Yesterday I wrote about an Air Powered car,
and based on the, uh, popularity of that post
(which I will address in due course), here’s
another type of vehicle that uses air to
increase fuel efficiency. The new tech under
the hood is called Fuel Vapor, and it’s able
to increase the fuel efficiency of any gas
engine by up to 20% while at the same time
decreasing CO2 emissions by 30%, all
without a catalytic converter. This is all
apparently made possible by mixing air with
fuel at a ratio of 20:1, as opposed to 14.7:1,
which is standard for most cars.
Although the Fuel Vapor system can be
installed on any gas engine, it’s flagship
platform, the alé (that would be “allay,”
not “ale”), is no slouch. The alé has a
180hp Honda engine and can accelerate
from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds, with an
electronically limited top speed of 140 mph.
It corners at 1.7g on street tires, and at 92
mpg, can drive from Canada so San
Francisco without refueling. Furthermore, it
emits 75% less CO2 than your average
hybrid. The initial run of these cars will be
hand built and cost $75,000 (Canadian), with
mass production predicted to bring the price
down to less than half that in 5 years. A
video, and more commentary, after the
jump.
