Smart-Air-Car - Presentation & Video (Version 2)

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Griffin Robot TEAM SMART Transportation Version5

Tata producing Compressed Air Cars

Compressed air car from the Tata stable?

Is this too good to be true? There are reports that Tata Motors plans to make a compressed-air car. No official word yet.

BY OUR AUTO CORRESPONDENT

March 21, 2007: Tata Motors seems to be on an extended fast drive. The country�s largest automobile manufacturer is said to have entered into an agreement to develop a car which runs on compressed air. This mean that the car would be virtually pollution free, said a report.

The Indian carmaker has inked the deal in this regard with with French company MDI for the car. According to the report, MDI�s Air Car can be powered by an external compressed air pump or by an internal compressor running on petrol. According to a document on the MDI Air Car, the technology used is different from what we see on the road today. The document explains that compressed air technology allows for engines that are both non-polluting and economical.

Seemingly affordable, MDI AirCar could have a performance rate that stands up to current standards. Significantly, they do not pollute too. The car would be made of foam and fibre glass which has survived official crash tests.

According to another industry report, MDI and Tata Motors would work together to develop a new and cost-saving technology for various applications for the Indian market that meets with severe regulations for environmental protection. The new technology is expected to be passed on to other applications too where cost competitiveness and respect for environmental questions go hand in hand, it added.

The cost f the car is expected to be around �4,000 and would have a range of around 300km between refueling, said a report. It would have a top speed of around 60kmh using air alone and 200kmh using an air and fuel combination engine, it added.

Flying car video from last week

December 3, 2009 Mac Montandon

 On the Swiss Jetman, Flying Cars - A year ago a 50-year-old Swiss air-devil named Yves Rossy wowed the world by flying his homemade jetpack — really more of a mini jet plane worn on the back, but still — clear across the English Channel. Rossy’s fantastic machine burned four small jet engines to propel the 130-pound carbon wings and the man strapped to them. Pulse-quickening video footage of the flight zapped freely into countless homes and lives. It was the dawn of a beautiful new age of jetpackery.

That was then.

Last week, the day before those of us stateside feasted on birds of an altogether different sort, Rossy attempted an even more ambitious ride: 24 miles in 13 minutes at 140 MPH across the Straight of Gibraltar, from Morocco to southern Spain. But, as Morrissey wisely noted, plans can fall through, and so often they do. And fall Rossy did, halfway through the expected trip, splashing roughly down and then bobbing in the choppy Atlantic. Too much turbulence, wouldn’t you know. Happily, the former military pilot was not hurt. In fact, he appeared to emerge with even his ego unbruised, telling reporters that, “Nothing worthwhile has ever been achieved on the first attempt. One tries and tries again.”

Rossy’s bravery is certainly admirable but he has likely done very little to inspire other would-be James Bonds. There are far easier ways to go for a dip, after all. If any such creatures still exist, chances are they would rather be flying a car these days then a jetpack. At least that’s the impression one gets from this story that ran earlier this week.

If you feel like it is a perennial event that a piece of journalism wonders whatever happened to flying cars, that’s because it is. But this new item has the added benefit of containing new information. Like the fact that there are a dozen — that’s 12! — companies in this country alone developing flying car prototypes and at least one of them plans to swoop to market by the end of 2011. There are, of course, practical questions — will the FAA ever approve the idea, who in the world can afford them when they start at 100 K — but push all of that out of your pretty little heads for just a minute and let’s dream a big dream, shall we?

It’s the winter of 2011. The economy is, miraculously, now humming along and there are even, occasionally, jobs to be had. (I know, but stick with me.) Health care reform has passed and low-income women still have access to legal, financially viable abortions (I said stick with me!). We have won the war in Afghanistan, or, at least, we didn’t lose it entirely. And you are flying your car to work, Minority Report style. On the way home, you slalom the sky tenderly through snowflakes the size of a kitten’s paw. It’s quiet, so quiet, in your bubble-topped wonder-pod that you can almost hear the construction crews on Mars, the jet-fueled jackhammers clanging through space. You glide into your rooftop docking slot and laugh a little about all the rumpus alternate-side parking regulations once caused. ......

Our Tesla Visit yesterday by Rishub Kumar

We learned a lot at Tesla from Craig Carlson during our Tesla trip. There are models of cars, the roadster and a sedan called Model S. There are two prototypes for Tesla Model S, the show car and the mule. The mule is what the car will look like in the inside while the show car is what it will look like in the outside. There are 14 computers in one car so its important to make sure they are all working fine and will not malfunction. They have a red button to do a quick stop of the cars during test drive. They don't have a proving ground as most car companies do

The Roadster LiIon battery can be fully charged in 3.5 hours. We also saw a portable battery charger for charging on the road. It is hard to get a battery that is cheap because the batteries are so big and need to provide a lot of power. The cars will cost less if the batteries are cheap. Since it cost a lot, people don't want to buy the car. So, Tesla decided to make the car like a sports car so it is competing with cars that are also expensive - they went after a different set of buyers than Hondas or Toyotas. They also designed the car to be really safe.




Carl told us about an accident in Denmark between a Roadster, VW Tuareg and a Prius. The Tesla was standing still, and a Prius crashed the rear at 50 mph. The Roadster went underneath the VW Tuareg and the VW ended up on top of the Roadster. The carbon fiber protective top prevented serious injury to the driver. Look at the picture, it looks like a very bad accident. We learnt how important it was to design the car right and consider safety factors.

We ended up talking a lot about different technology to power the car. We realized how diffficult it is to charge the batteries, since it takes time to charge them up, and that is why this is not a long distance travel car yet. It is meant for short drives and when they tested the battery in the speedway, the battery lasted only 30 miles. Though typically the batteries last 350 miles. We discussed about this later, and we had to choose an alternative fuel technology that was easy. Solar Power would not be able to provide enough power to run the car. Carl mentioned that the amount of power that is generated in the Tesla battery can run a house for month. Thus, there are lots of issues we need to consider.

Telsa initially thought the cars will take 6 months to make, but it took 4 years. They wanted to use the Lotus shell to build their Tesla, but it wasn't very easy. We are trying to build a prototype of our flying car which we thought might take a week. It might take longer. We saw similar challenges and problems that Tesla is working on and what we are struggling with. For example - we have a small budget to build our prototype and they have a small budget too to launch their Model S.

We went to the lab where they test the cars. It was awesome as we got to sit inside the car. We were excited but were asked to keep quiet. The doors opened by a button which was new. The seats were very low and it was weird. The cars made no noise at all, but the show car did, which we saw later and it looked way better. We took cool pictures of the cars.

The visit to Tesla was very fun and we learned a lot!!!!!