Never Have to Stop for Fuel or Recharge?
A San Jose-based company claims that it is working on the world’s first fuel-less car.
According to a company flyer:
"A battery starts a magnetic motor… which in turn drives a small but powerful on-board air compressor. The air flow is then tubocharged and multiplied to where the resulting horse-pressure™ smoothly powers the car to incredible speeds… without ever getting hot and without ever having to be stopped for external recharging or refueling."
"Our engineers have developed a solution for manufacturing air while the vehicle is in motion which may provide an unlimited driving range." - Manual Parks, CEO [1]
Of those components, one guess is that their magic is in the magnet motor -- magnets repelling magnets -- which they don't elaborate on their site.
Other coverage of this technology seems to be focusing on the air component, but there is no magic in compressing air. That's known science. They are using air-bearing turbochargers to create mechanical energy (converting air pressure to car motion), something both NASA and Toyota are looking at. [2]
Company representative, and apparent inventor, Paul Donovan gives his explanation below, having to do with "Three Turbochargers...".
The Magnetic Air Car allegedly uses three on-board substations to compress air up to "mach-one force airflow", which is then channeled, modulated, and converted to torque that propels the car. [3]
"There is enough energy available through the use of super-capacitors, earth friendly recyclable batteries, solar power, magnetic motors and magnetic generators to compress entrained ambient air. We believe we can obtain a higher speed with these components, some that we have invented and some invented by others that may soon become strategic partners. Most important, our solution does not violate the laws of energy conservation or the basic principles of thermodynamics." -- CEO, Manual Parks [4]
The car uses a silicon salt battery that has 30% more mass power than a lead acid storage battery and can charge completely within an hour. The 95 percent recyclable battery can also can be used in a temperature range from -40 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius. [5]
The company plans to build its first prototype at Club Auto Sport in San Jose soon, and hopes to have it ready for production by 2010.
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Magnetic_Air_Car%2C_Inc.#Official_Website