We don't hear much about this technology in America or the UK, but air cars are being developed in France, Italy and India. It is claimed to be the pollution free car of the future. The hybrid concept of an air/gasoline engine car with substantially enhanced gas mileage and range between filling the tanks also looks to be very promising. Michael

Cars That Run on Compressed Air

Air car ready for production
By Bob Ewing Posted Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:07am PDT



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.

Go to this link to read the entire article:
Air car ready for production : Yahoo! Green

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Guess there are more coming online. $$$$$$$$ to be made. Planet to be cleaned.

Car Runs On Air

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Is it really due to safety reasons? It seems to be a very convenient excuse to keep America in the automotive dark ages while car and oil companies continue to rake in the profits. I mean this transportation technology issue in the USA is getting to be a really old, worn out, and tiresome record. Why the hell do we need big cars with big engines so much? Why is it mandatory for the rest of us? Why the hell cant I buy a car like this in the United States of America? Is there any good reason except bureaucratic and corporate nonsense? If it is such a free f*ckin market, why the heck do I have to buy another gas guzzler or semi gas guzzler instead of something like one of these?

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I agree. What the **** is with all these low-mileage cars? Oh boy, now instead of selling me a car that gets 25 mpg I'm getting one that gets 30 mpg! OMG IM GONNA CUM. Geez. It's not that difficult to design a car that gets 50 mpg. And fiberglass and carbon fiber are as strong or stronger than a steel and aluminum frame, and also make the car lighter, if more expensive.

Gah, just ride a ****ing bike.

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Never argue with an idiot. He'll just drag you down to his level of intelligence and beat you with experience.

My specific interest here isn't the 100 percent compressed air car. They already have those in France and they look like just one step better than golf carts. Light, small and at risk for serious damage in real traffic.

It is the hybrid idea that I think is viable in America. I can see the potential for a car getting 200 miles per gallon and having a very substantial range of travel before needing to get more compressed air or gs.

This is the pattern. American car manufacturers will be ultra slow to move in any alternative direction. Toyota, Honda and other foreign companies will be innovative. Then they will move into the American market and kick the butts of our auto manufacturers, just like they have already done for over two decades.

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Air powered car coming to U.S. ?
at Sub-$18,000, Could Hit 1000-Mile Range

Go to this link to read entire article:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/aut....html?series=19

By Matt Sullivan
Published on: February 22, 2008

The Air Car caused a huge stir when we reported last year that Tata Motors would begin producing it in India. Now the little gas-free ride that could is headed Stateside in a big-time way.


Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) confirmed to PopularMechanics.com on Thursday that it expects to produce the world’s first air-powered car for the United States by late 2009 or early 2010. As the U.S. licensee for Luxembourg-based MDI, which developed the Air Car as a compression-based alternative to the internal combustion engine, ZPM has attained rights to build the first of several modular plants, which are likely to begin manufacturing in the Northeast and grow for regional production around the country, at a clip of up to 10,000 Air Cars per year.

And while ZPM is also licensed to build MDI’s two-seater OneCAT economy model (the one headed for India) and three-seat MiniCAT (like a SmartForTwo without the gas), the New Paltz, N.Y., startup is aiming bigger: Company officials want to make the first air-powered car to hit U.S. roads a $17,800, 75-hp equivalent, six-seat modified version of MDI’s CityCAT (pictured above) that, thanks to an even more radical engine, is said to travel as far as 1000 miles at up to 96 mph with each tiny fill-up.

We’ll believe that when we drive it, but MDI’s new dual-energy engine—currently being installed in models at MDI facilities overseas—is still pretty damn cool in concept. After using compressed air fed from the same Airbus-built tanks in earlier models to run its pistons, the next-gen Air Car has a supplemental energy source to kick in north of 35 mph, ZPM says. A custom heating chamber heats the air in a process officials refused to elaborate upon, though they insisted it would increase volume and thus the car’s range and speed.

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If you want a light, fuel efficient car prepare to pay out the *** for it. Maybe if cities would get there act together and make worth while transit system then people would not feel the need to drive everywhere. The biggest reason I do not ride the buss is because of the 2 or 3 transfers I have to make to get some place, that and the buses are just gross. That would help out a great deal. As long as people keep buying H2's, Suburbans and things like that then why would automobile companies create an affordable economic car?