World’s First Commercial Compressed Air-powered Vehicle Ready for Mass Production

Alternative fuels have been attracting a lot of media attention lately and the very first commercial compressed air car (zero pollution car) is on the verge of production. Yes, I am talking about the Air Car, which has been developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre. Approximately 6000 Air Cars will be built by India based Tata Motors and could probably be seen on Indian roads by next year.

The CityCat model will offer an average of 68 mph on a driving range of 125 miles. Refueling will be too easy and would take least of your time. A single fill-up is said to cost $2.00 and if the driver is not near to a compressor station, he can use the car’s integrated compressor to refill the tank in about 4 hours. The technology nehind the vehicle is to store electrical energy without the toxic batteries. So, we can say that The Air Car is an electric car with no electric motor. The only thing that the pipe of the emission-free vehicle throws out is the air.

Anyway, Air Car might not make its way to the North American streets. The guys behind the Air Car are already working on a hybrid version that would be using on-board, gasoline-powered compressor in order to refill the air tanks. Check out the videos.