English Unlimited HAK/HUM 4/5, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM (mit Handelskorrespondenz)

102 Saving the world 08 LANGUAGE SKILLS EXPLORE EXTRAS Facts about air-powered cars  An air-powered car like the AIRpod is small, holding just three passengers, with a single seat facing forwards for the driver and a bench facing backward for two more people. The car is designed to be exceptionally light, weighing in at 220 kg.  Because the air tank and engine don’t take up much room, most of the car is devoted to passenger space. The car is a three-wheeler, and the driver uses a joystick to turn, rather than a conventional steering wheel.  An AIRpod has a range of more than 112 miles, and it can reach speeds of just less than 45 mph, although the air-powered engine produces only eight horsepower, so acceleration is slow.  In spite of its flimsy appearance, the car is actually very safe, as it has airbags outside the car which inflate when a crash is imminent. The Pod itself is made of strong composite materials that make a safe cell protecting the passengers.  Air-powered engines run very cold and thick ice quickly forms on the engine. This means that the engine can be used to cool the inside of the car, but not to heat it.  The AIRpod has an onboard pump that can refill the tank overnight. But Negré has also developed a high- pressure air pump that can fill the tanks in less than a minute. These could be powered by clean electricity – hydro, wind or solar – making the air car completely pollution-free. Even if carbon-generated electricity is used, CO 2 emissions are still only 10% of a petrol engine’s.  The technology of air-powered engines is relatively cheap and simple, so the car would probably cost about £3,500. The cost of a tank refill would probably only be about £1! Environment Travel and transport On the road with the AIRpod air-powered car How would you react to someone who tried to sell you a car that runs on fresh air? Perhaps you would think he was peddling potentially planet-saving technology. More likely, you would dismiss him as a conman or a fantasist. Yet, that is precisely the pitch being made by French auto engineer Guy Negré, a good-humoured man in his mid-60s who claims to have developed a state-of-the-art car powered by compressed air: one that produces a fraction of the carbon emissions of a standard engine, reaches speeds of more than 30 mph, travels 65 miles on a one-minute recharge and, best of all, costs just over £3,000. Negré is quick to point out the drawbacks of existing eco-car technology. “Whatever people may tell you about hybrids, they are only marginally less polluting than the most efficient combustion engines,” he says. “Hydrogen power is expensive and impractical. Fuel cells are expensive and unproven and electric cars are reliant on expensive, unreliable battery technology.” Given the number of false green-auto dawns, you might wonder why air-powered cars should be any different. While Negré’s air cars have similar carbon emissions to electric cars (it all depends how the electricity to power the pumps that fill their air tanks is generated), he argues that air power is a superior technology. “Compared to electric cars, air-powered cars cost a fraction of the price to buy, they don’t need expensive batteries to be replaced every five years or so, and crucially they take only a fraction of the time to recharge.” I confess I was so sceptical that I reserved judgment until I had driven one of his cars. The version I drove was an early prototype, a three-wheeler with no bodywork, steered by a joystick. OK, it didn’t deliver the smoothly upholstered power so beloved by conventional car enthusiasts. And it possessed all the glamour of a souped- up lawnmower. But it worked, easily reaching speeds above 25 mph in the limited space of the factory car park, which doubled as my test track. Interaction: After your presentation, a car fanatic in the audience expresses doubts about the necessity of environment- friendly inventions and green lifestyles. Try to convince him/ her of the urgency of both. You should:   give examples of ‘green living’.   analyse the reaction of companies to this new trend.   assess whether your generation is more environment-conscious than your parents’. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eige tum des Verlags öbv