03AccentVA

I wouldn't want to go within 20 miles of the interstate, but I'd be the envy of the golf course! drive.gif

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10187871-48.html

busy_squirrel

And for a couple of quarters, you could fill up at most gas stations in town.

ereeves116

I saw this a few years ago on the Discovery Channel.

It's a nice idea since it would have 0 emissions (not counting those produced in the compression process) but like electronic cars I think it's a bit of a hastle because you're often limited by it's range.

On a side note I just got back from Hong Kong and Japan and taxis in both places run off of propane, I'm guessing it's just for cleaner emissions but I'm wondering the efficiency of that type of fuel.

i8acobra

There are taxi's and buses in the US's major cities that run on CNG. Here in Vegas, I see them all the time. We're one of a 1/2 dozen cities with CNG "Fast-Phill" CNG stations. Usually, it takes overnight to fill a CNG vehicle.

187sks

I don't think a gas station is going to get you to 5000PSI.

Our busses here run on biodiesel and smell like french fries.

This idea is interesting, and in niche markets could make sense, but overall I don't think that any compressed gas will take off unless it's combustible. Same difficulties, many times more energy to be harnessed. That same little car with a 46 gallon compressed hydrogen tank and an 8hp engine would probably have a 2500 mile+ range.

DTN

When I was learning to work on military oxygen tank fillers, they had something that looked like a supercharged diesel generator. It turns out that the supercharger was for compressing the gas to extreme pressures. It doesn't take much resources to compress gas to 5000psi. Any company who wants to make money can buy a 5,000 PSI compressor and some tanks and then charge people to change them out all day.

03AccentVA

I don't know when they made the change but the busses that run in downtown norfolk are hybrids. Those are nice cause they are about as quiet as a well tuned small car when they are sitting or moving at a steady speed.

187sks

You can get a 5kPSI compressor for a couple grand. Some people use them for paintball.

liveD83

yea but it takes a gas compressor to fill the tanks with air kind of defeats the purpose. You only go 112 miles on it so you're filling up more often times a million people in a city that's a lot of emissions no?

Just like Electric cars it takes nuclear power plants or fossil fuels to create electricity in the first place.

I think honda is on to something with the hydrogen fuel cell cars.

interesting concept though.

i8acobra

Yes, they do. These aren't gas stations. They're CNG stations that require you to have an access card to use. They're run by the Regional Transportation Commission here in Vegas. There are about a dozen stations in and around Vegas and 2 in Reno.