June 6 2008

Air-powered scooter leaves city centres cleaner!

Air Powered Bike_Image 01

An inventor has created what he claims is the world?s first motorcycle powered by fresh air. His work is more than derestricting your 50cc scoooters, it is more of trying to restrict a jet with wheels! If you want to know more how people get more power from their scooters, there are many articles that can serve as a guide. Check your local governments laws first.

Jem Stansfield says his converted Puch moped produces cleaner air than found in many town and city centres and so can actually reduce pollution.

?It actually fires out cleaner air,? said 37-year-old Stansfield, who used to be a sheep herder.

The University of Bristol aeronautics graduate fitted the Puch with high pressure carbon fibre air cylinders used by fire fighters as breathing apparatus in burning buildings.

The cylinders power two rotary air engines which in turn drive the chain to the rear wheel.

Unlike electric scooters, it takes just seconds to recharge from larger air tanks filled by a diving compressor.

With a top speed of 18mph and a range of just seven miles between air top-ups, Stansfield admits it?s never going to be good for trans-continental touring. But hesaid: ?You could definitely run a fleet of delivery bikes on it.?

TV presenter Stansfield built the scooter for a National Geographic channel documentary, Planet Mechanics.

Viewers can see him test ride it when the programme is aired on June 3 at 6pm, he is also going to discuss what causes motorcycle accidents in Manhattan so don't miss it.

via Motorcycle News Magazine

Leave a Comment

Thanks, your comment is awaiting approval.

7 Comments

June 12th, 2008 at 6:49 PM

Bill

Let's think this through for a minute. The compressor is run by electricity that is generated at the power plant. Then you have the efficiency losses in the electric transmission lines, electrical transformers, compressor motor and compressor itself. Okay... so you have moved the source of pollution generation from the engine of the vehicle to the electric power plant site. If all of this "pollution free" slight-of-hand gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside just remember - you don't get something for nothing (Mother Nature).

June 26th, 2008 at 5:03 PM

Corby

Shifting pollution sources has always been a problem for 'alternative' transportation, but do we have to be stuck in a carbon-based energy production model forever? What about solar or wind based production? When more people think creatively -- like Mr. Stansfield -- at least we're moving in the proper direction. Congratulations on coming up with a novel and practical idea!

July 27th, 2008 at 7:13 PM

Kyle Park

This is clever. It will be interesting to see if it catches on. I wonder what the knocks are on it? Best, Kyle Park

July 30th, 2008 at 4:31 PM

Tony

Hello .. I was just passing through looking for inspiration for posts on my blog and stumbled across your blog.. just thought i would post and say hello.. Ive just started my own new blog about bike games over at http://www.bike-games-to-play.com and was hoping you would be interested in a link or content exchange maybe.. if so please let me know.. great blog by the way :P

August 8th, 2008 at 9:02 PM

WillG

Great article. Air motors, now that is slick! I read a great article about this topic called "Scooter Polluter" found here: http://economicefficiency.blogspot.com/2008/08/scooter-polluter.html It laid out a number of the issues like smog pollution vs. gas consumption and that there are non-EPA certified scooters in the US, so watch out! In Shanghai, when I was there in January, I was told they had outlawed new scooters and folks could only buy electric bicycles. Too bad they forgot that they have to burn coal to generate that electricity.

November 5th, 2008 at 5:36 AM

Chris

That's pretty awesome. I could definitely see people using something like this to get around town, and go back and forth to work, etc.

June 1st, 2009 at 10:15 AM

Greenline Air powered scooter leaves city centres cleaner | Portable Greenhouse

[...] Greenline Air powered scooter leaves city centres cleaner Posted by root 11 minutes ago (http://greenlineblog.com) Air powered bike image 01 an inventor has created what he claims is the world first post a comment or leave a trackback trackback url but do we have to be stuck in a carbon based energy production model forever build up of greenhouse gases and explore the Discuss  |  Bury |  News | Greenline Air powered scooter leaves city centres cleaner [...]

Links