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AUTHOR Robert Gillespie
July 08, 2013

Liquid Air, Car Fuel?

The Centre For Low Carbon Futures has established that liquid air could power cars in the near future, the concept of liquid air is that you cool down air until it becomes compact then you store it in an insulated object. The idea is when the air hits boiling point it expands forcing the air out thus creating thrust, the idea could also power ships, trains, lorries, motorbikes etc. They stress that this isn’t a concept for the distant future it is available now and in the past eighteen months there has been a small amount of demonstrations in the UK which have proved successful.

This could be a significant breakthrough for science but there are a few things that are a struggle when it comes to fitting and meeting the certain criteria when it comes to powering a car with liquid air. One of the issues is that they need to design it to be small enough to be fitted to a standard size vehicle and leave enough room for passengers and the luggage, secondly it must be able to accelerate smoothly and to a sensible speed and pace, thirdly the full tank of liquid air must power the car for a considerable mileage as no one is going to want the invention if it only lasts a few miles per tank. Possibly the hardest part, a nationwide refuelling system this is what failed when it came to electric cars taking off.

Another factor they have to consider is the cost, they need to compete with the cost of cars today as the average motorist can’t spend a small fortune on a car just due to the fact it has better fuel for the environment. It also needs to be safe, as safe as a car now, they need to make sure that if you crash the car with the liquid air it won’t have any more dangers than if you crashed with petrol.

Having worked in the car rental industry for over 15 years, he really knows his stuff. Rob heads up our marketing department and as a keen traveller, always has a new location to talk about. Particularly if there is a golf course nearby.

Robert Gillespie

Traveller

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