Air-Powered Cars in America by 2010: 800-Mile Range!
Wow! Well, this week certainly has been a good one for MDI, the company that first decided it was possible to run a car on compressed air. First, they announce that Tata Motors has invested $30M to get the cars on the road in India and Europe this year, and now, They're Comin' to America!
The cars run off air that is compressed into a extremely strong tank. The air is then slowly released, driving an engine that can propel the American version of the car up to 95MPH. The American distributors, Zero Pollution Motors, already has its price set ($17,800) and a design (seen above).
This also comes with a new bit of news about the Air Car's propulsion system. The air tank can only hold so much air, right, so how do they extend the range and power for the American market? Well...what does air do when it's heated? It expands! So MDI has developed a way for the car to get a range of over 800 miles! A small petrol engine heats the air, providing the extra energy necessary to get the car up to 95 MPH and more than triples the vehicle's range. So, indeed, you will have to fill up both a gasoline tank and an air tank to get the car to work.
The bad news is that it takes about an hour to fill the air tank. But, theoretically, the car could come with an at-home charger...since being parked at a gas station for an hour-long fill-up would be pretty horrible. The other bad news is that you'll be burning gasoline...which kinda defeats the purpose...right?
Well, not if the car gets an effective 106 mpg when traveling above 35 MPG and doesn't use a drop of gas when going slower than that. Sounds to me like a pretty good compromise for bringing this otherwise not-very-suited-for-the-American-lifestyle car to America.
Via Auto Blog Green and BusinessGreen
