State-Journal.com - Turning to alternatives

Photo By Photo submitted C. Michael Davenport’s compressed-air car, which he test drove in south France in August, could arrive in Frankfort any day now – he hopes before the Christmas parade.

Everybody keeps watching gas prices " today in the $3.60s " wondering how long it will take to reach $4 a gallon.

And Frankfort developer C. Michael Davenport wonders how long it will be before his new compressed air car will arrive in America. He hopes it gets here for the capital city Christmas parade.

Last August Davenport, creator of Prevention Park, took his first trip overseas " to south France to meet Guy Ngre, inventor of the compressed-air engine.

The four-day trip came not long after Davenport Googled "alternative energy vehicles" on his home computer one evening. Up popped Ngre's car company, MDI " Moteur Developpment International.
Davenport's purple and red car will be gasoline- and carbon-emissions free. It will reach a maximum speed of 68 mph and can travel 120 miles before needing to be recharged.

The six-seat car will be 11.2 feet long, 5.4 feet wide and 5.6 feet tall, and weigh 836 pounds. It will cost an estimated $16,000 to $19,000. Some models have a steering wheel in the middle.

The air tanks contain carbon and will split if the car is wrecked to prevent exploding shrapnel.

"I have always been fascinated with alternative energy," Davenport says. "For as long as I can remember I've always said we have to quit using fossil fuels to propel ourselves from one place to another."

Davenport says in the late 1970s he converted his Ford Ranchero to run on propane gas. But getting a vehicle that runs on compressed air is more exciting, he admits.

"Everybody (at the prototype factory) in France was incredibly nice and amazingly open," Davenport says.

"When I met Mr. Ngre, the inventor, I felt like I was talking to Alexander Graham Bell. He must be a genius. But I wonder if even he realizes what this could mean to the world " not just America.

"As soon as I walked in the door of his business, I thought this is meant to be. My son Chamberlin's favorite color is purple and the first thing I saw was a purple (prototype) car."

Before Ngre invented the air compressed engine he worked in aeronautics, then moved onto Formula 1 racing cars as an engineer with the Renault racing team.

Davenport says the MDI cars definitely look different.

"But I like different," he says. "It will tickle me to death when I can drive around and not burn a drop of fossil fuel. We hear talk about cars now getting 30, 40 or 50 mpg. With the MDI car I'm getting, there are no gallons. We're not talking about reduced or low emissions, we're talking zero emissions.

"It may not have the shape, size or look that everybody likes. And it certainly doesn't even remotely match the luxury we've become accustomed to in America. But this is just the infancy of this technology.

"If this catches on, we can put our American ingenuity to it " our sound systems and GPS and heated seats and power windows. I don't know that Alexander Graham Bell's first telephone had caller ID."

The car runs with a "click-click-click" sound," Davenport says. It has a range of 120 miles before needing a recharge.

"I don't travel 120 miles most days, so that's not a deterrent for me," Davenport says.

"If I need to drive to Cincinnati, I can go to a gas station and simply charge it in a matter of minutes. When I'm finished for the day, I can plug it in and recharge it at home.

He says Ngre is working on a system to put solar panels on a car roof "to power a generator to recharge the air tank while you're driving. If he hits on that, it's going to be incredible. He's also working on a hybrid, mixing gas-power with his air compression to extend the mileage range for people."

Davenport is so fascinated by Ngre's work that he has purchased stock in the company. He declined to say how much he has invested. But he believes it's enough to be eligible to purchase an MDI car soon after it becomes available on the market.

Davenport says he doesn't know how many more steps have to be taken before he will be the proud owner of an MDI air car.

"I don't know if before one can be brought to America, you have to put crash dummies in it and run it into a wall at 68 mph," he says.

"There's a lot I don't know. I just know I've seen and ridden in a car that runs on compressed air. I know it can be done. Mr. Ngre has proven to the world it can be done.

"If nothing else, I would like to have one just to put in parades and show people it can be done. That would please me immensely. I've always felt somewhere along the line I must be a descendant of P.T. Barnum because I love a good promotion."