Alternative to electric motorcycle runs on thin air

[Two dogs]

 
Zero emissions no end of life battery disposal issues = win win

http://media.drive.com.au/cars/car-news/motorbike-that-runs-on-air-2797531.html?&exc_from=strap

[bikerburnout]

hmmmmm I cant see that catching on

[Two dogs]

I don't expect it to but an interesting design concept non the less.

[muskrat]

cool idea but my farts are louder than that.  I'm not a fan of battery anything so I give this a  

[lethe]

you can carry a hand airpump with you in case you overestimated your range 

I bet it's pretty damn light, if nothing else it would be a fun toy 

[Buckethead]

I could definitely see using one as a commuter.

Hell, keep a bike pump on it and you've got unlimited range!   

[lethe]

I could definitely see using one as a commuter.

Hell, keep a bike pump on it and you've got unlimited range!   

hell, eat Mexican everyday and connect a tube to your ass
perpetual motion machine

[justinrhenry]

interesting and cool

[zooom]

I could definitely see using one as a commuter.

Hell, keep a bike pump on it and you've got unlimited range!   

don't laugh, I bet they are already trying to configure that!....

[Buckethead]

I only laugh because I can picture myself leaving the tank open when I get to school/work and spending 20 minutes recharging so I can go home.

You only make that mistake once.

Or seriously, no more than 5 or 6 times.

[Grampa]

I wonder what would happen if you ran it on a treadmill.

[Slide Panda]

NO BP! BAD BP!

Folks have been working on air powered cars - specifically for taxi applications for a bit. Not sure where it's going as i haven't been tracking it, but in certain places it makes a lot of sense.

The one catch, right now, is infrastructure. Getting that tank filled will require you to go to a scuba or paintball shop. You need to have a air compressor that can do at least 3k psi (rating on a SCUBA) tank with a good desiccator set up. So that sort of gear isn't all that common.

But if you've got a couple tanks you can keep a reserve. And if this goes some place they might make higher pressure capacity HPA tanks in those large volumes. It's common for paintball air tanks to have a 4500psi capacity and some 5k.

The end of life, or lack of, issues are a big pro for this idea. The batteries are hugely intensive to build and only last so long. Then you've got a big hunk of narsty metals to handle

[Triple J]

Interesting idea.

What happens in a crash if the tank is ruptured? 3,000 psi (or a lot more) is a lot of energy to release suddenly. 

[Howie]

hell, eat Mexican everyday and connect a tube to your ass
perpetual motion machine

I thought the idea was to cut down on air pollution.

[Slide Panda]

What happens in a crash if the tank is ruptured? 3,000 psi (or a lot more) is a lot of energy to release suddenly. 

if the tank does rupture it can be bad news. Good thing is it'll probably won't be a catastrophic failure aka explosion. That doesn't happen much, save for gross over pressure or a tank that's weakened from corrosion and hasn't been properly tested.

Not sure about SCUBA tanks, but the tanks for PB (at least the 4500psi fiber wrapped aluminum) need to be periodically tested and re-certified. Fail the test and the test firm drills a big hole in it. Shops check the tanks at fill time to ensure they have a valid cert. Lower pressure tanks, and ones with different case material probably have different re-cert criteria... just don't know.

Back to getting a hole in the tank... All the pressure remaining will vent *aggressively*. The Mytbusters tested this out a bit - busting the valve off a tank for welding. Breaking off the valve at full pressure vented enough energy to put the tank through a cinderblock target. So a lot of force is captured in the tank. But if you managed to puncture the tank, it *might* toss you and the bike over backwards or similar - but if you've crashed hard enough to hole a tank like that, you've probably not on the bike anymore. I wouldn't expect something crazy like the bike shooting 20ft in the air