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The Air Car A Reality

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Beyond Tomorrow (Australia) May 2005

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4

BBC News (England) December 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov4t1P9bdGw

Revolutionary air car runs on compressed air

BBC News is reporting that a French company has developed a pollution-free car which runs on compressed air. India's Tata Motors has the car under production and it may be on sale in Europe and India by the end of the year.

The air car, also known as the Mini-CAT or City Cat, can be refueled in minutes from an air compressor at specially equipped gas stations and can go 200 km on a 1.5 euro fill-up -- roughly 125 miles for $3. The top speed will be almost 70 mph and the cost of the vehicle as low as $7000.

The car features a fibreglass body and a revolutionary electrical system and is completely computer-controlled. It is powered by the expansion of compressed air, using no combustion at all, and the exhaust is entirely clean and cool enough for use in the internal air conditioning system.

Tata Motors is known for its interest in innovation and has been selling compressed gas buses since 2000. It is currently working on producing the world's cheapest car, which will be almost 100% plastic and will sell in India for about $2500.

Tata is also expanding into the world market. It acquired Korea's Daweoo in 2004 and is now the top bidder to purchase the originally British Jaguar and Land Rover lines from the United States' troubled Ford Motor Company.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Air_car_runs...d_air_0104.html

Air car to call Melbourne home

MELBOURNE is set to be the manufacturing home base for a car that operates with zero emissions and can run solely on compressed air.

Guy Negre, who used to design engines for Formula One team Renault, has spent the past 15 years developing the air engine and says the first manufacturing plant will be established in Melbourne with cars expected to go on sale next year.

Mr Negre, the managing director of IT MDI-Energy, which will manufacture the air car, and partner Louis Arnoux have been in Melbourne this month to demonstrate the technology, which is part of a five-year $1.5 billion planned roll-out across Australia. The Victorian and Federal governments have been shown the technology, as well as other potential investors.

Compressed air, not petrol, pushes the engine's pistons, which can then take the vehicle up to 110 kilometres an hour.

Running on compressed air alone, the car can travel 150 kilometres, but when the air is heated externally and incorporated with a fuel source, such as ethanol or diesel, it is possible to travel from Perth to Brisbane without refuelling.

Dr Arnoux said the car would be economically and environmentally friendly. He said the first small car would retail for less than $8000 and running costs would be 80% lower than current comparable vehicles.

IT MDI-Energy aims to reduce car emissions in Australia over the next 10 years by 20%. The company says that more than 7000 new jobs will be created over the next five years.

The car can be refuelled by plugging it into the compressed air supply that is found at most service stations.

Dr Arnoux said the air engine technology could also be used to power homes.

"The aim is to make it easy and fun for customers to shift to the new technology. As for electrical power, we expect that in most situations costs for a home will be 25% lower than current expenditure," he said.

"We are used to thinking of 'green' being more expensive and cumbersome. This makes a rapid transition to 100% sustainable and enhanced lifestyles possible."

http://www.itmdi-energy.com

http://business.theage.com.au/air-car-to-c...71202-1ee6.html

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Sounds good in theory, but so did communism.... We'll see how they really are before I decide its so great.

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Sounds like a load of compressed air to me :) (See what I did there?)

No, this could be a big step forwards in terms of the environment. I'd still rather have a Ferrari Enzo though :P

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Ykick, IIRC, Tata acquired Daewoo's truck division. GM has Daewoo's car division.

I think the $2500 car is slated to be unveiled in some auto show this month.

Well, I think if you've got a loudmouth passenger in the car, there's no need to top up the car with air at a compressed-air station. (An aside "compressed-air station" --> is the placement of the hyphen correct? Should there be 2 hyphens?)

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Where's my cheque-book, sound like a good idea/investment to me......

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Sounds like a load of compressed air to me :)

I'd still rather have a Ferrari Enzo though :P

A smile and a nod to you, my friend.

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3) My most annoying thought, even if/when we get these selling in England, it wont matter, it is illegal to drive any vehicle here on a fuel that you have not paid the \"petrol\" tax on, so the compressed air will cost about

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Although I dont drive yet, I thought that you didn\'t have to pay tax if your veichle emmitted less than 100 grams of CO2 per KM

Good job they can't tax humans.

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Although I dont drive yet, I thought that you didn\'t have to pay tax if your veichle emmitted less than 100 grams of CO2 per KM

Thats road tax, not fuel tax.

We have about 6 taxes to drive on the roads :-(

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