I take it none of you guys has been in Indian traffic or seen the typical
vehicle mix. A compressed air car would be perfect for India. Even on the
highways the speed limit is 60 kph, roughly 40 mph. It's never that high in
the cities.
Imagine the type of traffic you get when no one pays any attention to the
marked traffic lanes except the sacred cattle who line up facing the flow of
vehicles, looking rather placid and pleased with themselves.
It's not unusual to see a family of five riding a motor scooter. Combine that
with the autorickshaws with a capacity of four but stuffed with up to 20 people
and various animal powered carts in addition to conventional autos, and you can
imagine that the traffic doesn't move too fast.
Any vehicle that could start and stop in such traffic without the
inefficiencies of an ICE would be a boon to the average Indian citizen and
without the expense of a hybrid. The reduction in air pollution would be an
improvement in the major cities, where most of the small cars are diesel
powered.
M.
