New Peugeot Citroen will run on air

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
1/23/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

'Hybrid Air' engine system runs on petrol and air

If you're a certain age, you probably recall when people said that electric cars were impossible. With so many hybrid cars no on the road, that declaration has long been proved false. Now, car maker Peugeot has kicked that up another notch. Their new Peugeot Citroen will be running on gasoline and air - knocking off almost half of the average motorist's gas expense.

'We are not talking about weird and wacky machines,' a Peugeot spokesman says. 'These are going to be in everyday cars.'

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The French car giant, PSA Peugeot Citroen says that they believe they can put an air-powered vehicle on the road by 2016.

Driving in towns and cities could be slashed by as much as 80 percent because the car will be running on air for four-fifths of the time.

The system works by using a normal internal combustion engine, special hydraulics and an adapted gearbox along with compressed air cylinders that store and release energy.

This allows the car to run on gasoline or air, or a combination of the two. Air power would be used solely for city use, automatically activated below 43 miles per hour and available for "60 to 80 percent of the time in city driving." It's predicted that by 2020, the cars could be achieving an average of 117 miles a gallon, the company predicts.

In addition, the air compression system can re-use all the energy normally lost when slowing down and braking. The motor and a pump are in the engine bay, fed by a compressed air tank underneath the car, running parallel to the exhaust.

The revolutionary new "Hybrid Air" engine system - the first to combine petrol with compressed air is being heralded as a breakthrough for hybrid cars because expensive batteries will no longer be needed.

Cars fitted with Hybrid Air will be about �1,000 cheaper to buy than current hybrid models.

A hundred elite scientists and engineers have been working for two years on the air-powered car in top-secret conditions at Peugeot's research and development center at Velizy, just south of Paris.

Hybrid Air is the centerpiece of Peugeot chief executive Philippe Varin's efforts to restore the fortunes of the historic car maker.

The revolutionary system will be able to be installed on any normal family car without altering its external shape or size or reducing the trunk size, provided the spare wheel is not stored there. From the outside, an air-powered car will look identical to a conventional vehicle.

"We are not talking about weird and wacky machines," a Peugeot spokesman says. "These are going to be in everyday cars."

� 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Peugeot, hybrid, gasoline, air, city travel, France

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