Combustion Engine Breakthrough?

A car powered by compressed air. Interesting.

Sounds too good at first glance. Questions like this one will definitely be asked- 'What kind of efficiency do you get for converting electrical energy to mechanical energy, then to energy stored in compressed air and then back into mechanical energy?  Are Indian electricity costs subsidised?'

Tata Motors is ready to introduce Air Car - Will it be the next big thing?
      

Developed by ex-Formula One engineer, Guy Negre, Tata is on-stream to produce the first commercial air-powered vehicle, 'The Air Car'for Luxembourg-based MDI.

It uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion
models, to push its engine's pistons.  Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to
hit Indian streets by August 2010. [Is this old fodder?]
      

The Air Car, called the "MiniCAT" could cost around Rs. 3,475,225 (RM8,177.00) and refuels after every 300 kilometres. Per refill cost is only Rs. 85 (RM2.00)

What exactly is the MiniCAT? In gist, it is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis that is glued, not welded, and a body of fiberglass powered by compressed air.

Microcontrollers are used in every device in the car, so one tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, indicators, etc.

There are no keys - just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. 

According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees per 100 Km (about a tenth that of a petrol car).  Its mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car (200 to 300 km or 10 hours of driving), a factor which makes a perfect choice in cities where 80% of motorists drive at less than 60 Km.  The car has a top speed of 105 Kmph.
     
Refilling the car will, once the market develops, take place at adapted petrol stations to administer compressed air.

In two or three minutes filling time, the car will be ready to go another 200-300 kilometers.

As a viable alternative, the car carries a small compressor which can be connected to the mains (220V or 380V) and refill the tank in 3-4 hours.

Due to the absence of combustion and, consequently, of residues, changing the oil (1 litre of vegetable oil) is necessary only every 50,000 Km).

The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0-15degrees below zero,which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power.

Will the Air Car revolutionise motoring forever?

English-Fast and Easy

I have just finished reading an illustrated English book.

Written by Marianna Pascal,an international teacher teaching English as a second language,this book is really a primer for those who wants to quickly learn the contextual use of the language in everyday situations.

This book is mostly of English expressions and phrasal verbs. It makes interesting reading and the illustrations and sample dialogues are not only effective but amusing as well.

I recommend this book for those in lower secondary schools as well as adults.

The Artistic Side of Adolf

The person who painted these pictures below wanted to attend the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts to become  famous as an artist.  If he had been accepted by the academy, world history would have been much different. 

His name was Adolph Hitler.

Captains of Hope

The new projects in the trillions to be launched to make Malaysia an advanced country included an assortment of projects ranging from a high speed train to a potential casino integrated resort in Karambunai, Sabah.

Captains of industry such as these are looking forward gloatingly to amass more wealth for the company and themselves in the process.

Question is-who is going to fund these high octane projects? The EPF? Woe betide us!

We need to call the Ghosbustsers !

High Speed Rail to Singapore

The Government of Malaysia has resurrected the High Speed Rail (HSR)project to Singapore again.

Same song. Old wines in new bottles.

I do hope this time it will be for real and not another pipe dream rainbow-chasing  wish.

According to an Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) unveiled today, this high speed link will connect Penang, KL and Singapore.

A feasibility study will be conducted on the HSR system by January 2011.

“We are looking at speeds of about 280km per hour,” said Ahmad Suhaimi, the deputy lab leader for Greater KL at the ETP open house here today.

According to information provided by the lab, the door to door journey from KL to Singapore will take about 2.4 hours as opposed to 3 hours by air.

An intercity service to Seremban, Ipoh, Ayer Keroh, Muar and Batu Pahat has also been proposed.

So these intercity stops will boom if this project takes off at all.

Say Goodbye to 60

To date, the government have yet to make a  decision on raising the retirement age of civil servants to 60 years as vociferously clamoured by CUEPACS.

The Human Resources Minister  spoke on this on the sideline of the 5th Apec Human Resources Development Ministerial Conference in Beijing.

To him, no decision has been made even though the matter is at the highest level of deliberation at his Ministry.

He brought out a few cogent points.

Firstly, Malaysia has the biggest civil service in the world. Most of them are teachers.

Secondly, they have just increased the retirement age to 58.

Thirdly, he said they cannot just increase the age willy-nilly. If old people stay on longer, what will happen to young people who wants to get into the civil service?

Meanwhile look at some of the statistics.

Malaysia, which has a population of 26 million, has a public sector workforce of 1.2 million people.

The retirement age for public sector employees in Malaysia was increased from 56 to 58 in 2008 and Cuepacs  had proposed to the government to further raise it to 60 to be on par with other countries in the region.

The retirement age of civil servants in Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia is 60 while in Singapore, it is 62.

PHEIM Unit Trust Magic?

It must come as a surprise to many when the Singapore High Court found Pheim Asset Management & its CEO Dr Tan Chong Koay to have contravened market rigging provisions under the Securities and Futures Act by trading with the intention of creating a false or misleading appearance in the price of United Envirotech (UET) shares.

They were ordered to pay civil penalty to MAS to the tune of S$250,000 and legal costs to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

This is a landmark judgement.

Those who attempt to do year-end window dressing of therir stocks better take heed of this  I guess it will be a matter of time when Securities Commission of Malaysia and Bursa KL  will adopt this to ensure market stability on this side of the Causeway.

In the case of Pheim, Dr Tan was found to have placed large orders to buy UET shares through Pheim Malaysia from 29 December to 31 December 2004. He did this within the last half an hour of trading on each of those days.

The trades accounted for 88 per cent of all UET shares traded over the three days, causing the share price to increase by 17 per cent.

Previous media reports also said this had triggered performance bonuses totalling S$50,790 to be paid to the company.

The court ruled that Dr Tan's sole purpose of the trades was to raise and set a higher market price for UET shares.

This act of "window dressing" then led certain funds managed by the Pheim Group to outperform their respective benchmarks, said MAS in its statement.

MAS Capital Markets Group assistant managing director, Mr Leo Mun Wai, said in a statement that "fund managers should not engage in window-dressing practices that would mislead investors as to the performance of securities and the funds under their management."

He added that MAS will not hesitate to pursue perpetrators, local or foreign, who attempt to rig Singapore's capital markets.

Pheim Unit Trsut was the doyen of unit trusts for many years. Now it has to come to this.

So, after this landmark case, wouldn't you be worried about taking stakes in unit trusts?