The compressed air car, for instance, appeared several years ago and has been presented as a possible revolution in personal mobility but, as of yet, it has not turned out into reality and, on the contrary, many doubts persist on some technical aspects and on its energy efficiency.

Recently, a study published on the last number of the “Environmental Research Letters” states that the compressed air car beside having an extremely low energy efficiency, requires electric power to compress air and, therefore, its carbon footprint appears to be bigger than conventional fossil fuel cars.

However, last year the MDI, company that produces compressed air cars, introduced the concept named AirPod, whose production license has been purchased by the Indian giant Tata Motors and has announced its launch on the market by 2009.

Will we see soon a small “bubble” emitting air from its exhaust pipe or will there be another delay? Reality or chimera? What do you think?

Other articles you might enjoy!

News on AirPod
Compressed air cars

Related articles by Zemanta

• People Power Announces “Unplug for Earth Day 2010″ Campaign on Facebook (prweb.com)
• Turning gas-guzzling properties into models of energy efficiency (guardian.co.uk)

According to experts, the selling price of electric cars is going to fall as soon as they are concretely sold by car dealers. In addition a purely commercial incentive to electric cars is the separation of the ownership of the batteries: since they still are expensive, if they were provided separately from the car (and assimilated with running costs), the car’s price could fall dramatically.

The establishment of national networks of battery-exchange stations is a pre-requisite to extend the use of electric cars beyond the boundaries of a metropolitan area. In this line it is worth mentioning the initiative of Better Place, a California based company, which is ready to build networks of car-charging and battery-swapping stations that will use robots to exchange exhausted batteries for fully charged ones in seconds. Stations are planned in Israel, Denmark, Hawaii and Australia and a partnership with Renault-Nissan Alliance has already been started to assure that new electric vehicles from the French group use BP-compatible batteries.

Concerning the batteries, it is worth recalling the Nissan-Renault joint venture with French government agencies to develop, build and recycle batteries for electric cars, which involves the French Atomic Energy Commission and might be supported by the European Investment Bank. Renault expects batteries’ recycling and reuse in energy storage and backup power applications (traditionally, secondary markets for batteries after their useful life in vehicle applications).

Looking at what is happening downstairs is useful also for them who look at the mountains!

Other articles you might be interested in!

Viewing the Future from the Past: Battery-Electric Vehicles and Better Place
Better Place Unveils Electric-Car Software
Le auto ibride e la droga rumore
Project Better Place realizzerà le infrastrutture per le auto elettriche anche in Giappone
BP applauds Hawaii’s electric car legislation

In the future of Alpine tourism and more in general of mountain regions, private mobility is due to become increasingly limited. Public transport therefore will probably have a stronger role. We have asked dr. Genova if he believes that ICT will introduce profound changes as it has already occurred in other fields of application.

Dr. Genova replied: “The use of electric vehicles provides a number of specific advantages which make them particularly attractive for urban traffic and in valuable areas such as mountain areas: low emissions, silence, better efficiency in stop and go journeys. It appears as the most convincing answer to environmental issues.

It is in this direction that the project and industrial efforts have focused their attention to define new ways of using electric buses. This innovation can extend the range of their use and therefore reduce electric buses’ running costs. Among the most promising options available, the effectiveness of which are validated by the daily use by some brave transport companies, are the inductive fast recharge for electric buses, and the use of turbines for recharging batteries of hybrid buses on board .

Public transport can and must in this way play a critical role inducing citizens to an ever more frequent use of collective means of transport: the town of Wengen, in the Bernese Alps can be reached only with Wengenalpenbahn and mobility is only for pedestrians. Delivery services are guaranteed thanks to the use of small electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles, special plants, ICT systems supporting mobility: today there is plenty of technological solutions but also the needed financial tools. Many national and regional laws offer incentives for the purchase of public and private electric vehicles: less frequent have been until now interventions in the field of operative facilitations which are part of the leeway of local administrations whom have been recently increasingly interested in environmental issues”.

The most remarkable barriers to a wide use of car pooling are psychological, and the possibility to travel with known people could make car pooling more attractive, reports Marco Di Mitri in his blogpost. A possible solution could be travelling with colleagues.

Several platforms are available to ease car pooling (such as roadsharing.com and pendolaritalia.it in Italy, and NuRide in the US), but some of them deserve a special attention.

One of my favorite platform to be used in a working environment is Caringbee . Each user can register, declare her track with starting point, time and arrival and share this information with her colleagues. The platform has been developed according to the web 2.0 principles and can be embedded in a business intranet.

Car pooling seems to be a viable practice also for people who live in the mountains and often commute to larger centres for work, business, public services and leisure. A large number of private cars can remarkably contribute to produce well known externalities of traffic congestion and pollution in urban centres. The experts who are going to meet at SWOMM 2009 will certainly share their impressions concerning the concrete role which car pooling might play in mountain towns.

Other websites you might find interesting:
Car Pooling Italia
Tandem Mobility
Car pooling//Autostrade Italia
Car Pooling Liguria

In SWOMM 2008 a brief summary of the most viable available technological options was presented by Wilfried Klanner of FIA office in Brussels. In this year’s edition the technological aspects of vehicles and the needed infrastructure to ease the dissemination of low and zero-emissions cars will be discussed. A specific focus will be placed on the concrete experience of Nissan-Renault in some European countries, and the process leading to public-private-partnerships and cooperation agreements.

Numerous other car manufacturers have strongly invested in green R&D: on November 4 and 5, the H2Roma “Scientific Workshop with the press” takes place in the city centre of Rome, near piazza Navona. Since 2002 this event aims at bringing to the attention of large audiences the results of technological research to reduce the environmental impact of cars.

Everybody can see and test the low emissions vehicles produced by groups such as Fiat, Honda, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Toyota, by booking a test drive on the H2Roma website.

The SWOMM organisers will participate in the Workshop and try to use this occasion to enrich the debate at SWOMM 2009, looking for possible synergies between the latest innovations in automobiles and the specific needs of mountain urban centres.

The H2Roma youtube channel here