Electricnick, The EV Revolution

This is the complete interview and study around MDI’s incredible compressed air technology for vehicles and its manufacturing ideal behind it.  One of our local correspondent met with the founder of MDI, Guy Negre, and asked him more questions about his famous, or in the case of France, infamous compressed air vehicles, CAV.  What we found was an interesting fellow with ingenious solutions, backed by a dedicated team and financially supported by Tata.

The gist is that powering a vehicle with compressed air might sound far out but until we sat in it and actually drove, we never expected it to run that well.  In a nutshell, the CAV uses compressed air in tanks that is delivered to a piston engine which propels the CAV.  But wait, there’s much more.

History.  MDI was founded in 1991 with the idea that they could concentrate on the development of zero pollution engines.  Throughout Guy Negre’s career, he has designed nearly one hundred engines, while some were conventional internal combustion engines, ICE, MDI’s aims is to promote and develop ecological energies; conceive and produce non-pollutant vehicles and systems.  Easier said than done, how do you go about it?

Developing CAVs.  Located in sunny south of France in Carros, MDI feverishly works on new technologies and innovative production methods.  And interesting technologies, it has.  We saw interesting prototypes, some of which we have no doubt would find buyers.  The fifty, or so engineers and technicians work on the compressed air vehicles, now with the support of Tata Motors who became the exclusive licensee for MDI’s technologies in India since 2007.

The road wasn’t always easy and the company has attracted an unwarranted share of detractors, mostly in France, some of their important dates are:

1996   creation of the first Compressed Air engines (1st generation).
1998   Creation of the first compressed air, cars, namely the Green Taxi. Picture below.
1999   “MDIs Industrial concept”
2001   Dual-energy technology – “stop and go” piston
2002   Presentation of the MiniCATs at the‘Mondial de l’auto’
2003   New thermodynamic cycle (active chamber)
2005   Creation of the “cold combustion” cycle.
2007   Signature of the TATA Motors agreement – Development of the OneCATS
2008   Development of the OneCATS and preparation of the Model factory
2009   Launching of the OneCATS

Test Driving An AirPod.  Finally, we test drove an experimental prototype platform of the famous AirPod and had a closer look at the technology.  To quote our corespondent: “I’ve driven a lot of cars and tested prototypes, but nothing prepared me for this.  It’s all fly-by-wire, makes some noise when starting, is fairly quiet at speed and best part of it all, it only exhausts cold air.”  It’s hard not to get excited reading this.  What we have here is a technology that uses compressed air, depending on what energy used for the compressor, does not pollute and is truly a next generation of car driving.

Considering the platform has two propelling wheels behind and two tiny ones in front for steering, the ride is smooth and stable.  We didn’t feel the CAV would tip over at any speed.  Pressing the accelerator pedal  unleashed the compressed air and the engine sounded like an old two-stroke starting, but after that, it was fairly quiet.

Technically Speaking.  The AirPod is a four wheel, compressed air powered car.  The steering is electric on a front pivot resting on 2 wheels.  60 miles theoretically costs no more than $2 dollar, with a 3 minute recharge at a high pressure station or 3 to 4 hours on a regular compressor.

Driving A Compressed Air Machine.  It felt like a two stroke motorcycle at first, especially during the acceleration phase.  The compressed air engine has a lot more kick than one would imagine at first.  The steering is no different than playing on a console with a joy stick.  We feel the new generation will have zero problems driving these types of vehicles.  For the rest of us, it’s no different than regular steering, you just do it with your right hand.  We feel this is probably akin to air pilots who went from flying Boeing to Airbus.

The car turns on a dime, virtually.  Shorter than a Smart ForTwo, with its pivotal front axle, it can turn around itself.

A Perfect Fit For Fleets.  This is one vehicle that makes perfect sense for fleets and commercial delivery.  With its particularly wel adapted to urban driving, we feel ice cream vendors will particularly like the cold they can recap from its exhaust, or just use for AC.

This is a technology that makes you smile at first but after careful evaluation, makes sense for fleets and private transportation in cities for very little cost.  We image having your own solar array, wind turbines or just being near a river and you have a zero cost operation vehicle.

More to follow on the technology and manufacturing.

MDI’s engine has the distinct quality to be a dual-energy one.  If air has run out, it can run off of diesel, gasoline, ethanol, etc, to squeeze more miles out of it.  This effectively makes it a dual-energy engine, contrary to a hybrid that has to have two distinct engines.

Manufacturing Genius.  Just when you thought you had seen it all with this technology, Guy shows us another added advantage to manufacturing these little air cars.  According to his vision, which is feasible, you would bypass the tried and true, but not realistic anymore of producing millions of cars in one place, shipping them worldwide, distributing them and finally selling them locally.  Guy business model is so agile and modular, mini-factories could be installed in cities and pump up volume according to demand.  It’s so simple that it is genius and explains why traditional car makers are highly threatened by these type of manufacturing.  And after all, what’s to fear?  Things cannot go on the way we have done in the past forever, and car makers will have to modernize their process.

With on distribution, which cuts down on global shipping and pollution, no stocks and little on the shelf materials, less supplier since 80% of the vehicle is made locally, modular and highly customizable factory and you can see what this could mean for developing countries and the boost it could give more modern ones.

Open the pod, Al!  Here is part II of out tour of MDI and their revolution compressed air vehicles, CAV.

Technically Speaking.  As we mentioned before, the AirPod is a four wheel, compressed air powered car.  60 miles theoretically costs no more than $2 dollar, with a 3 minute recharge at a high pressure station or 3 to 4 hours on a regular compressor.

A Perfect Fit For Fleets.  This is one vehicle that makes perfect sense for fleets and commercial delivery.  With its particularly well adapted to urban driving, we feel ice cream vendors will particularly like the cold they can recap from its exhaust, or regular drivers using it for AC.  Even more interesting is that MDI’s engine has the distinct quality to be dual-energy.  If air has run out, you can feed it diesel, gasoline, ethanol, etc, to squeeze more miles out of it.  This effectively makes it a dual-energy engine, contrary to a hybrid that has to have two distinct engines.

This is a technology that makes perfect sense for fleets and private transportation.  We can only image having your own solar array, wind turbines or near a river and you have a zero cost operation vehicle with zero pollution.

Manufacturing Genius.  Another surprising well thought-out design is the manufacturing process.  Guy showed us another advantage to manufacturing these cars on-site, as well as distributing them locally.  According to his vision, you would bypass the old system of producing millions of cars in one place, shipping them to great distances, distributing them and finally selling them locally.  This system adds more pollution on top of what conventional cars do.  Guy’s business model is so agile and modular and even revolutionary that it could transform global economy.  By building mini-factories near cities and pump up volume according to demand, you would meet local demand and not overstock.   It should lower overall costs.  It’s so simple that it makes sense why traditional car makers feel threatened by it.  And after all, what’s to fear if they could reduce costs?

With on site distribution and manufacturing, cut down global shipping and pollution, little stocks and on the shelf materials, less supplier, it is estimated that 80% of the vehicle would be made locally, in a modular and highly customizable factory.  We can only imagine what this could mean for developing countries and the boost it could give more modern ones.

In Conclusion.  What we have here is a technology that uses compressed air, depending on what energy used for the compressor, would not pollute and is truly a next generation of car driving.   Driving the AirPod felt like driving one of the car of the future.   MDI’s business model and vision would revolutionize the way car could be manufacturerd.  Best part of it is that his technology makes sense financially, for fleets and users with zero pollution.  Again, why haven’t car companies licensed this technology?  Oh yes, one has.

See also the Examiner story on it here.

Here is a video of Guy Negre explaining his concept.