Magnetic Air Car - so how well does it stick to the road, dude?(with audio)
Update: the photos of the car used in this company’s official marketing material and web site, as well as in the article linked to below have been taken without permission from the site of Factory Five, a kit car maker from the US who produce a $19,990 GTM Supercar kit. You must draw your own conclusions!
This Magnetic Air Car appears to be an absolute miracle of engineering. We’re talking a vehicle that will travel at 100 mph plus for ‘an unlimited driving range’ without needing to refuel. Oh yes folks, you read that right. The technology seems to involve something called an air-bearing turbocharger which uses a $70 battery to run a magnetic motor to compress, use and re-compress air in the onboard storage tanks. The secret sauce as they call it is their new Air Cycle Machine, which apparently stirs up air through convection. Confused? Yep, same here. See if this magazine article helps. Oh and the flyer text [PDF] may help too (under the right hand top photo).
What we are building is similar to an electric car but with compressed air tanks instead of expensive rechargeable batteries that can only provide short driving distances. We believe our engineers have developed a solution for manufacturing air while the vehicle is in motion which may provide an unlimited driving range. We use only one specially designed battery the size of a regular car battery which has three times the charging capacity and a much longer life cycle. Instead of $3,000-$5,000 for lithium batteries, our battery costs less than $70. The battery does not contain acid, it will retain its first charge sitting on a shelf for up to three years…