We are living during a era of great technological innovation. At TomorrowToday we love technology that has the ability to disrupt not only products but entire industries, even countries. Peugeot Citroën  appears to be doing just that . The car manufacturer has unveiled a new hybrid drivetrain that uses compressed air instead of electricity to provide a secondary source of propulsion. They call this innovation Hybrid Air and it’s a technology they claim will be available in their compact models (Citroën C3 or a Peugeot 208) by 2016 for a price of £16,000. The company claims that the car using a hybrid system emits as little as 69g/km of CO2 i.e. 2.9l / 100km. Peugeot aims to reduce this to 2l/100km by 2020 

 An innovative full-hybrid gasoline solution. An important step towards the 2l/100 km car by 2020 

The car travels on compressed air propelling it to speeds of 43mph where after the petrol or diesel system kicks in. 60-80% of journeys can therefore be completed, in an urban city environment, using just air!

A car that runs on compressed air has the potential to not only disrupt the motor industry, but the massive oil industry too. This is great news for environmentalist, but not for those who invest in the future of fossil fuel. Understanding the impact of this disruption needs to be a boardroom topic for energy companies. TomorrowToday is partnering with London Business School and our facilitators are working on a leadership programme for Kuwait Petroleum Company. We’ve learnt that 80% of the Kuwaiti economy is depedent on the oil industry. What happens when an abundant, cheap and pollution free source of propulsion replaces or reduces significantly the demand for their liquid gold? It’s a question we will put to them at the next session with KPC senior leaders in Spetember. The answers should be interesting.

 

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Cut away view of the hybrid air compression propulsion system

 

Ray Massey became the first UK journalist to test drive the new car in Paris. Here is an excerpt on his driving experience:

Driving feels a little different to a conventional automatic car. It’s nimble. A visual display on the dashboard screen tells you when you are in zero pollution or petrol mode. It chugs happily along in town running only on air. It certainly didn’t run out of puff and giving the accelerator a quick burst — vital on Parisian roads to keep you out of trouble — meant the combined force of the 82bhp petrol engine and the 40bhp air motor kicked in together to put wind in its sails.

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Ray Massey test driving Hybrid Air

You can read his full review of the car at the Daily Mail