Air Powered Vehicles

EV Range Anxiety? Turn off the Air, says the EPGAA

Automotive leaders globally have acknowledged that overcoming range anxiety is a key barrier to EV proliferation, and that ancillary loads such as air conditioning decrease range significantly.  Advanced Solar Control glass is designed to reduce the solar heat load in the vehicle so that the workload of the air conditioning system is also reduced.  It works by reducing the amount of solar energy that enters a vehicle.

Consider that approximately 50% of all US drive segments occur - typically the hottest time of the day.  When equipped with Advanced Solar Control glazing, cabin temperatures at startup can be up to 20 degrees lower than vehicles without Advanced Solar Control glazing. This means climate control systems use less energy to make the vehicle comfortable. Even in motion, prevalent automatic climate control systems have been shown to draw less power to maintain the desired temperature set point, freeing more energy for vehicle range.

As a barrier to EV proliferation beyond early adopter purchases, "range anxiety" can be alleviated somewhat through the use of advanced technologies such as solar control glazing. Electric vehicles fitted with solar control glazing could achieve as much as a 30% improvement in range during high air conditioning usage seasons.

Additional benefits derived from the use of Advanced Solar Control glass in internal combustion powered vehicles include reduced green house gas emissions by increasing fuel efficiency as much as 5% during prime AC season.  Additionally laminated glass, used in conjunction with advanced solar control technologies, is inherently lighter than standard tempered glass, thus reducing the overall weight of the vehicle and further increasing vehicle efficiency.

Finally, laminated glass, including laminated glass with Advanced Solar Control, provides ancillary benefits to consumers. Laminated glass, due to its tough plastic interlayer, does not shatter like tempered glass when impacted, offering occupant ejection protection in the event of a crash. In a rollover situation, passengers are less likely to be fully or partly ejected if protected by a combination of side air bags and laminated glass, according to NHTSA.

Other benefits include:

Intrusion resistance

Laminated glass also protects against break-in "smash and grab" theft, providing 10 times the intrusion resistance vs. tempered glass.

Air powered car

India's largest automaker is set to start producing the world's first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine's pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets in August of 2008. Barring any last-minute design changes on the way to production, the Air Car should be surprisingly practical. The $12,700 CityCAT, one of a handful of planned Air Car models, can hit 68 mph and has a range of 125 miles. It will take only a few minutes for the CityCAT to refuel at gas stations equipped with custom air compressor units; MDI says it should cost around $2 to fill the car's carbon-fiber tanks with 340 liters of air at 4350 psi. Drivers also will be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car's built-in compressor to refill the tanks in about 4 hours.

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