Foo - Is this real ("air car")

http://www.theaircar.com/

Supposedly this will be, or in production in India soon.

In any case, I really wish people who come up with eco cars would design them not to look like 100% canned ass (IMHO of course.)

Yeah, it's real. As to what it's genuine efficiency is, I don't know. I would imagine somewhere between a gas and an electric.

Basic rule of style: If it's not ugly, people won't immediately recognize that it's new.

what is top speed? I couldn't find any information about speed on website.

It sounds cool.....but if it has a top speed of 30 mph, it won't cut it.

Sounds like the other 300 "revolutionary" engines that are out there but have never been seen or tested except when interviewed on tv maybe. I will wait without bothering to hold my breath.

Sounds like the other 300 "revolutionary" engines that are out there but have never been seen or tested except when interviewed on tv maybe. I
+1

It's for dense urban commuting, where the peak speed won't be past ~20-40mph, and the average is around 5-10mph. Compared to an EV, it's very inefficient, but it also doesn't require periodic battery replacement. So, even though electricity costs are at least twice as much as an EV, it's still cheaper because there's no battery replacement, which is the biggest cost of an EV iirc. Someplace like France, with lots of nuclear baseload, and plenty of off peak generation capacity, could use these to replace cars in dense urban settings with very little additional infrastructure/cost. It's small and slow (http://www.motormdi.com/1.AVI) but it should be a fifth to a tenth of the cost of a normal car or EV, with no on site pollution, or problems with A/C. ;)

It's for dense urban commuting, where the peak speed won't be past ~20-40mph, and the average is around 5-10mph. Compared to an EV, it's very inefficient, but it also doesn't require periodic battery replacement. So, even though electricity costs are at least twice as much as an EV, it's still cheaper because there's no battery replacement, which is the biggest cost of an EV iirc. Someplace like France, with lots of nuclear baseload, and plenty of off peak generation capacity, could use these to replace cars in dense urban settings with very little additional infrastructure/cost. It's small and slow (http://www.motormdi.com/1.AVI) but it should be a fifth to a tenth of the cost of a normal car or EV, with no on site pollution, or problems with A/C. ;)
Yep. I personally feel that we can alleviate a fair amount of the problem by making an infrastructure for people in the inner city who spend maybe 20 - 2 hours driving a day from/to work and convince people to use these vehicles. Alternative fueled transportation is good for these people who only drive to/from work, grocery store, etc. However they also need to be able to use a real vehicle if/when they have to go somewhere.

I am reminded of the 70s where due to the oil crunch, people came up with tons and tons of moronic ideas for cars. For any alternative to be successful, it must (IMHO, of course):

1: Look decent. If the car has to be small, have it look like an Insight, Prius, or CRX, and not like a Scamp or a Gremlin. Even if the car goes retro, looking like a Model T, that is cool, but have a style that people won't s****** at the car's owner behind their back.
2: Be able to be be refilled easily. Life sucks when there is one fuel station for that specific fuel in a 100 mile radius.
3: Actually be a solid product, and not just a marketing gimmick for a fly by night company to milk investors.
4: Have some performance. A good example of this would be the Tesla Roadster.
5: A reasonable price. $40k-60k at the outset, going to $25-45k once mass produced.
6: Part availablity. Parts for the engine and other stuff should be somewhat easy to come by.
7: Of course, safety goes without saying.

I think once we see cars from places like Tesla on the road and they get good reviews, maybe companies that are solid will step in and start playing in the alternative-fuel market.