While its rivals Nissan and Renault concentrate on electric vehicles, Peugeot has revealed a hybrid car that is powered by a petrol engine when cruising and compressed air while in town.
It is claimed the system offers fuel savings of up to 45% while driving in town.
The new technology offers an interesting alternative to hybrid electric cars as it delivers zero tailpipe emissions in town but with none of the environmental impact associated with the production and disposal of batteries.
The major innovation lies in the way the powertrain adapts to driving styles, adjusting independently to one of three modes: Air, Gasoline or Combined.
An existing car model such as the Citroën C3 or Peugeot 208 fitted with the Hybrid Air system delivers 97mpg and 69g CO2/km without any specific adaptations.
Peugeot plans to offer Hybrid Air as an engine option in its line-up of cars in 2016 and considers the technology a stepping stone towards its goal of creating a production car with fuel consumption of 2 l/100 km (141mpg).
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Ian Byrne
If it can produced safely reliably and at a reasonable cost then it’s an interesting concept. Compressed air storage has been trialled for storing renewable electricity but even so it would be interesting to know what range they think they might get in ZEV mode.
The trouble is any primarily fossil fuelled vehicle still emits some carbon, and by assuaging our green conscience with clever designs that emit a little bit less, it doesn’t little to wean us off our wider addiction to cars. And I write that as the owner of a Smart diesel, of which I was very proud when I first bought it as it had the lowest emissions of any non-electric car on the UK market at the time. Still, once the snow has melted, I can get back on my bike!
David Futter
As a scientist I feel the urge to point out that compressed air is not thin. It is, in fact, somewhat thicker than the standard stuff we breath.