Best mileage hauling kayaks

Air Car article from Popular Mechanics
Air-Powered Car Coming to U.S. in 2009 to 2010 at Sub-$18,000, Could Hit 1000-Mile Range



The CityCAT, already being developed in India (bottom left), will be available for U.S. production in three different four-door styles. But it’s the radical dual-energy engine, with a possible 1000-mile range at 96 mph, that could move the Air Car beyond Auto X Prize dreams and into American garages.



By Matt Sullivan

Published on: February 22, 2008





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Automotive X Prize



The Air Car caused a huge stir when we reported last year that Tata Motors would begin producing it in India. Now the little gas-free ride that could is headed Stateside in a big-time way.



Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) confirmed to PopularMechanics.com on Thursday that it expects to produce the world’s first air-powered car for the United States by late 2009 or early 2010. As the U.S. licensee for Luxembourg-based MDI, which developed the Air Car as a compression-based alternative to the internal combustion engine, ZPM has attained rights to build the first of several modular plants, which are likely to begin manufacturing in the Northeast and grow for regional production around the country, at a clip of up to 10,000 Air Cars per year.



And while ZPM is also licensed to build MDI’s two-seater OneCAT economy model (the one headed for India) and three-seat MiniCAT (like a SmartForTwo without the gas), the New Paltz, N.Y., startup is aiming bigger: Company officials want to make the first air-powered car to hit U.S. roads a $17,800, 75-hp equivalent, six-seat modified version of MDI’s CityCAT (pictured above) that, thanks to an even more radical engine, is said to travel as far as 1000 miles at up to 96 mph with each tiny fill-up.



We’ll believe that when we drive it, but MDI’s new dual-energy engine—currently being installed in models at MDI facilities overseas—is still pretty damn cool in concept. After using compressed air fed from the same Airbus-built tanks in earlier models to run its pistons, the next-gen Air Car has a supplemental energy source to kick in north of 35 mph, ZPM says. A custom heating chamber heats the air in a process officials refused to elaborate upon, though they insisted it would increase volume and thus the car’s range and speed.



“I want to stress that these are estimates, and that we’ll know soon more precisely from our engineers,” ZPM spokesman Kevin Haydon told PM, “but a vehicle with one tank of air and, say, 8 gal. of either conventional petrol, ethanol or biofuel could hit between 800 and 1000 miles.”



Those figures would make the Air Car, along with Aptera’s Typ-1 and Tesla’s Roadster, a favorite among early entrants for the Automotive X Prize, for which MDI and ZPM have already signed up. But with the family-size, four-door CityCAT undergoing standard safety tests in Europe, then side-impact tests once it arrives in the States, could it be the first 100-mpg, nonelectric car you can actually buy?



RELATED STORIES

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• UPDATE: New Blog From Cornell Auto X Prize Team

• DRIVE GREEN: Test Drives, News and Video on Alt-Fuel Rides

Diesel Jetta Wagon
The old models got great mileage. The brand new models are supposed to get between 50 - 60 mpg.

Life in the slow lane
I have a GMC Jimmy and routinely drive at 59 on the highway. I get between 75 and 100 miles more per tank than when I drive 65-70.



I find driving in the right lane relaxing. It frees me from the road games, jockeying for position, etc. I very seldom if ever have someone roar up behind me, and this is in SE Mass and Rhode Island, which have some of the most aggressive drivers of anywhere I’ve driven.



Of course, if there are only two lanes of heavy traffic, I’ll go with the flow and increase my speed. Same thing when passing a busy entrance ramp; I’ll get in the middle or left lane but increase my speed. It’s the self-righteous idiots who go the same speed in any lane that have people riding up their tailpipes (including me!) (grrrrrr).



One my favorite quotes of all time is George Carlin: “Anyone that drives faster than you is a maniac, and anyone that drives slower than you is a moron.” It’s all relative :slight_smile:

Cool.

Bar Spread
Thanks- this looks like a nice setup. What kind of spread do you have between the rack bars? It looks pretty good, compared to most small cars.



Alan

Best?
Probably blasting up to a symposium with the windows down, no cruise control and speeds up to about 75. There was only one boat, but I averaged just about 45mpg in my diesel Jetta!



It’s an '03 and if VW’s latest gas models are any indication I won’t be trading it in anytime soon. Mileage of even the Rabbit is deplorable. 22/29? We’ll see what happens when the new TDI (diesel) comes out later this year.

Include the link


Here’s the link:



http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4251491.html



“8 gal. of either conventional petrol, ethanol or biofuel could hit between 800 and 1000 miles”



This works out to 125mpg. Keep in mind these are very small cars.

300 mpg on diesel
about half a gallon to get the engine and veg oil hot, then switch to veg and drove a little over 300 miles (40 gallon veggie tank). About another half gallon of disel to purge before shut down…most of which gets returned to the veg tank, so it’s not really lost fuel.



Depending on driving habits mileage varies between 40 mpg on the low end to 300 ish mpg on the high end.

40 mpg, fully loaded
Dunno that it’s magic but… 1996 Passat TDi wagon (1.9L diesel). With two sea boats on the roof and a full load of camping gear, mix of 80mph highway driving and bunch of very hilly 2 laners yielded 40 mpg on a trip to Canada last Summer. Regularly get a tad better than that with a bit less gear load. Tdi’s are currently available only on the used market, at least for a few more months when new versions are supposed to hit the US market.

48" Bar Spread
This was a DIY installation using Yakima Landing Pads and Tracks. Email me for gory details

40-45 mpg
2 kayaks on top, week’s worth of camping and paddling gear inside, 2 adults, in a Toyota Prius.



-rs

If small carbon footprint and les gas …
is the issue, then I’d recommend doing a “Dubside,” i.e Commando kayaking! I’d get a folding boat, check out public transportation options and feel good about yourself.



So, far I have the folding boat, but haven’t been able to grow the cool beard yet.



http://www.dubside.net/commando-kayaking.cfm



tom

Two laws of physics. Perpetual motion
and conservation of matter. It should be interesting to see how a tank of air charged to 4200 psi can propel a car 1,000 miles.

Small compressor

– Last Updated: May-10-08 5:52 PM EST –

"It should be interesting to see how a tank of air charged to 4200 psi can propel a car 1,000 miles."

There are two versions of these "CAT" cars.

One of them just has the air tank (-that- version would not have great range).

The other (the "dual" mode one) also has a gas-powered compressor. No "perpetual motion" needed.

People have gotten 80mpg (or so) out of Honda Insights. So, 125mpg isn't too far-fetched. Still, it's only an stimate. And, it's not clear if this is the only way to get 125mpg out of a vehicle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight

got a link?
“Orders were taken for large scale manufacturing but somehow (yes, interestingly “somehow”) the production was stopped. Detroit was certainly not interested in having competition from somebody that could propel the car by air.”



Do you have a link for this?

me too
In my prius, with 2 kayaks, 2 people, and a lot of junk in the back, we get about 45 mpg. Add the dogs and a couple bikes and it drops to 42 mpg. You can stuff a lot of stuff in a prius–our last trip included 2 people, 2 pit bulls, one husky, 2 pairs of skis, and winter gear for a week. No kayaks on top for that trip, however.

Arizona! I love Arizona, can’t wait
to move out there. Then we can meet and go out new car shopping, right after we paddle Apache Lake or Roselvelt or Paridise or the Marina or dozens of other places I’d like to come back to… AND STAY THIS TIME!

Modern diesels
Modern turbo diesels aren’t really slow, I bought a Mazda6 diesel wagon last year and have been happy with it as a paddling vehicle. Unfortunately I don’t think they are available in the US.



A smaller vehicle is also more economical, my 1995 Nissan Micra has about the same mileage as the diesel. There are more small diesels appearing on the market here in Australia eg: Hyundai, Mazda3 so they may get to the American market in coming years.



Kelvin

Thanks for all the info
The Subie has only 107K on it, so I’ll be keeping it for now, but all these comments give me lots to investigate. I used to get in the mid-30’s with a VW Rabbit and an 18’ canoe on top - we’ll see what VW does with the new tdi’s.



For those with the Prius - are we talking sea kayaks on top? What kind of bar spread with the rack?



Alan

Diesel or Hybrid
Is the only way you gonna break the 30 mpg barrier at any reasonable speed IMO. May be the smaller cars like Yaris or Fit may do it as weel, but it will be too close to your current to warrant an upgrade.



In my '02 Prius I manage to stay at or just above 40 mpg on the highway with a kayak on top as long as I do not go faster than 60 mph or so. Even a few miles faster and it drops below 40 into the high 30s. A few miles slower and it goes up. Take the kayak off and you gain 5-10 mpg on top of whatever you were doing with it.



The Camry may get you in the low 30s IMO at decent speed but costs a lot of money - not reasonable from a $$$ prospective, but yes for a whole lot of other reasons.



I’m actually looking at a Honda Fit to replace an aging Camry but after driving a Prius for a while, a fuel efficiency in the low 30s looks bad to me - I’m getting mid 40s with the beat-up Prius without trying too hard (gets me above 50 if I am careful).