The Air Car -Coming Your Way

Yes, a car can run on nothing but air, as shown by the new concept car developed by French inventor Guy Negre. The car can be filled with compressed air in just three minutes, offering a fast, and more environmentally friendly, option than either fueling up a gas tank or charging an electrical car. The engineer has promised that within a year he will start selling a car that runs on compressed air, producing no emissions at all for around the town driving.

For longer journeys, the car will do the equivalent of 120mpg use air, and various options of liquid fuel. The compressed air driving the pistons can be boosted by a fuel burner if needed, which heats the air and increases the pressure on the pistons.

The forthcoming OneCAT will be a five-seater with a glass fiber body and could cost as little as $5,000. It is powered by compressed air stored in carbon-fiber tanks built into the chassis. For those that don’t want to bother having to “fill up” with air, it will also have the option of an on-board compressor that can automatically fill the air tank with compressed air at home by plugging it in.

"The first buyers will be people who care about the environment," says French inventor Guy Negre. "It also has to be economical."

For over a decade Negre has been promising a breakthrough. But people are now paying more serious attention to his aircar since he recently secured backing from the giant Indian conglomerate Tata to put the finished touches to the engine.

For now, Tata is the only big firm he'll license to sell the car. For the rest of the world he hopes to persuade hundreds of investors to set up their own factories, making the car from 80% locally-sourced materials.

"This will be a major saving in total emissions," he says.

"Imagine we will be able to save all those components traveling the world and all those transporters."

He wants each local factory to sell its own cars to cut out the middle man to keep the car affordable and accessible. He aims to take away 1% of global sales, which would be about 680,000 aircars per year.

As for safety concerns, Negre says the cars will be very safe to drive. He explains that if the air-car crashes the air tanks won't explode, they simply split with a loud bang.  "The biggest risk is to the ears.”

However, for Negre and many others, a car that runs on air represents could seriously mitigate the risks we currently face with widespread air pollution and climate change.

Posted by Rebecca Sato,

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Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7241909.stm

Comments

[Uncle B]

Make mine a two seater, tandem style three wheeled road rocket! Bright red or orange, or even shocking pink or lime! no dark colors, I want to be seen! I want to go about 100 miles of more per air-charge, and use this for my daily commute, round town fun in the evenings and "chore-driving" not long range! I need it to be rain proof, and a defogger element in the windshield! keep it ultra-light, motorcycle licensed, on-board compressor, extension cord included, and cheaper than a Honda 50 to drive, and you've got a winner with the young folk, poor working folk, and old guys with guts!