lt,
You ever worked around trucks - or truckers ? Or air motors ? I have !
All "seems simple"; at least until fantasy meets reality. Your "compressed gas/regeneration" proposition works great so long as you have an "ideal gas". In the world you aren't. Instead of dry 59'F clean air your gadgets are going to have to eat wet, dirty hot/cold air at operating temperatures from -50'F to 125'F. Filters are going to plug, water is going to accumulate along with abrasive dirt. Expansion of that compressed gas in the air motors is going to cause "freezing problems" - not to mention the noise factor.
And all of this gimcrackery adds tare weight and complexity not "absorbed" by installing a smaller (and assumed lighter) main motor !
Same goes for all the other "gee-whiz" truck improvement propositions I've heard proposed over the years. If any had any worthwhile validity the major mfgs would be all over them like flies on a warm turd. They aren't. And not because its some "nefarious plot" either ! These are hard-headed businessmen and engineers with decades of experience in the trucking business. They know what works, and more importantly, won't ! >Mech
