I remember seeing that scoot, pretty slick
Not to hijack your thread, but if compressed air vehicles interest you check out MDI's website -->
Motor Developement International. They've been working on compressed air powered "city vehicles" for years, with mixed success and mixed results.
The biggest hurdle to overcome with compressed air as a power source is the fact that when a pressurized gas expands it absorbs energy (Charles' Law). Early MDI engines ran great for about 5 minutes, but would quickly ice up and even seize themselves to a stop. I just browsed through the "engines" section of their website and see they've gone to a "dual fuel" process, using external combustion to heat the expanding air. I guess it works pretty good, judging by the video of their AirPOD zipping around
The inventor says he could never travel big distances with it, but it surely is clean. Now if the compressor had a clean power source, that would be to the benefit of the environment, since I can imagine compressing the air is much more efficient and cleaner than burning the fuel locally in the motorbike’s engine
If the electricity used to compress the air in his tanks came from a clean power source like a hydroelectric dam or a wind turbine, then yes it's clean. Is it efficient? According to Wikipedia (which never lies!), the losses inherent in compressing the air (as heat) make the total efficiency of such a system around 14%, even if the engine is 100% efficient. Doesn't sound all that great
I still think air engines are super cool though. Does anyone remember those ads in the back of popular science magazines for converting your car to run on compressed air? The kit came with 8 spark plug adapters, hose barbs and bits of hose, etc etc. I wonder if they're still around?
