An air-powered car....

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Taken from Yahoo.com:http://green.yahoo.com/index.php?q=node/315
 
Air-Car Ready for Mass Production:
By Bob Ewing
 
The world's first commercial compressed air-powered vehicle is rolling towards the production line. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre, will be built by India's largest automaker, Tata Motors.
 
The Air Car uses compressed air to push its engine's pistons. It is anticipated that approximately 6000 Air Cars will be cruising the streets of India by 2008. If the manufacturers have no surprises up their exhaust pipes the car will be practical and reasonably priced. The CityCat model will clock out at 68 mph with a driving range of 125 miles.
 
Refueling is simple and will only take a few minutes. That is, if you live nearby a gas station with custom air compressor units. The cost of a fill up is approximately $2.00. If a driver doesn't have access to a compressor station, they will be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car's built-in compressor to refill the tank in about 4 hours.
 
The compressed air technology is basically just a way of storing electrical energy without the need for costly, heavy, and occasionally toxic batteries. So, in a sense, this is an electric car. It just doesn't have an electric motor.
 
But don't let anyone tell you this is an "emissions free" vehicle. Sure, the only thing coming out of the tailpipe is air. But, chances are, fossil fuels were burned to create the electricity. In India, that mostly means coal. But the carbon emissions per mile of these things still far outdoes any gasoline car on the market.
 
   
Unfortunately, the streets of North America may never see the Air Car, though; it's light-weight, glued-together fiberglass construction might not do so well in our crash tests. However, that does not mean the Air car is confined to the sub-continent. Nègre has signed deals to bring its design to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa.
 
And this isn't the last we'll hear of the technology. The folks making the Air Car are already working on a hybrid version that would use an on-board, gasoline-powered compressor to refill the air tanks when they run low. Negre says that technology could easily squeeze a cross country trip out of one tank of gasoline.
A variety of videos (of varying quality) on this technology can be found on YouTube, or after the jump.
 
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COMMENTS: Talking about saving the World...I am a little fussy on one part.. When they say a driving range of 125 miles does this mean that the car will run 125 miles before refueling, like 125 miles per gallon or something? Jee!!... However i think they should make a hybrid that would use hydrogen/nitrogen (can't remember which one of the two it is) or electricity when the compressed air on that car is low, and no gasoline involved...Just to prove that i think there is a conspiracy going on the Auto Industry...Tell me now why wouldn't that car come to the USA? Hey who buit this car? Talking about a true Einstein...
Entry #20

Comments

Avatar pumpi76 -
#1
Country that should be interested on these should be Italy...I once heard a guy on i think it was CNN who invented a system on the hybrid car and the car could make an unbelievable 500 miles per galon..But the guy had like 18 batteries on his car....
Avatar pumpi76 -
#2
The guy that could make hybrids do 500 miles per gallon was an American guy...
Avatar hypersoniq -
#3
look up "Lee Rogers". He has a patent on similar technology, He's from Florida.

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