The Hyperlogos

Moteur Developpment International (MDI) is Guy Negre's air-electric hybrid vehicle company. While they have not yet (September 2007) produced any significant quantity of vehicles, they have allegedly for several years performed pilot projects in Spain using their Mini C.A.T. vehicle as a Taxicab. The basic principle of their vehicle is thus: rather than having any combustion engine, or fuels, a motor-compressor is used. This is coupled to the wheels and to a small electric motor/generator through a transmission of their own design. Where in a typical gasoline engine you have a fuel-air mixture that is compressed and then ignited, in MDI's engine you add a small quantity of very high-pressure cold air to a cylinder which contains only pressurized (and thus heated) air. The cold air (which is stored at, if I recall correctly, a couple thousand PSI) is heated by mixing with this compressed air, causing expansion. MDI's vehicles so far have top speeds around 65 MPH and ranges which top out around a hundred miles, but the use of air rather than electricity means both that they are vastly more environmentally friendly than any electric hybrid or even full-electric, and that if you have the "fueling" infrastructure you can fill up the tanks in a minute or even less, unlike any electric solution which has so far even been presented as a prototype. This "infrastructure" consists primarily of a compressor and a large high-pressure tank, and any source of motive force can be used to run it, making it potentially the greenest option by far. MDI recently made a deal with India's largest automaker [[Tata]], a company with $5.4 billion in revenues, to produce vehicles for their local market. But so far the many licensing agreements signed by the company have not resulted in any production runs, so it's too soon to start cheering. Links

• [weblink:10008]