New Peugeot Hybrid Ditches Electric Motors, Uses Compressed Air

The new Peugeot 2008 Hybrid Air looks set to make a mockery of the electric loving hybrid cars that are currently dominating the market. It ditches the electric motors in favour of an air compressor to provide some extremely clean power to the wheels.

While the car is moving, air is pumped into a cylinder with the aid of surplus energy from the petrol engine, energy recovered from the wheels and heat energy from the brakes. The car still uses a conventional petrol engine, but can switch to using a hydraulic air motor and pump depending on driving conditions.

The air motor is ideal for lower speed driving in cities, and it activated automatically when the car is going under 43mph. When climbing hills or accelerating, the can can draw power from both the petrol and air motors and for long distance cruising, petrol only power will be enabled.

A spokesman for manufacturer PSA Peugeot-Citroen said: ‘We are not talking about weird and wacky machines. These are going to be in everyday cars.’

The car will be available from 2016 for around £16,000 and can manage around 94 miles per gallon. For a car that doesn’t need recharging, or require extra heavy duty batteries, this is really impressive.

Thank you Daily Mail for providing us with this information.

Images courtesy of Daily Mail.