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The Air Car Nears Completion

torok writes "According to an article on Gizmag, Tata, India's largest automotive manufacturer, has developed a car that runs on compressed air. It costs less than $3 USD to fill a tank on which it can run for 200 to 300km. The car will cost about USD $7,300 and has a top speed of 68mph. About once every 50,000 km you have to change the oil (1 liter of vegetable oil). Initial plans are to produce 3,000 cars per year."

25 of 750 comments (clear)

  1. it runs on "wind" power by User+956 · · Score: 4, Funny

    According to an article on Gizmag, Tata, India's largest automotive manufacturer, has developed a car that runs on compressed air.

    Well, if you eat a lot of Tandoori, this is a great use for that compressed air.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  2. Danger... by LurkerXXX · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did half-life 2 teach us NOTHING about the dangers of compressed air cannisters?

    1. Re:Danger... by daves · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thought it was "Jaws".

      --
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    2. Re:Danger... by DrLex · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes, it learns that in the future, the whole planet will be littered with them. Which makes sense, if this air car would be successful.
      Following the same line of thought, there will also be a need for massive amounts of explosive barrels and crates with medkits.

    3. Re:Danger... by ScoLgo · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Say bye bye to all windows in the neighbourhood."

      Fine. Just as long as it leaves other OS'es alone.

      --
      "Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing - and it was everything that I thought it could be."
    4. Re:Danger... by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

      You can flick a lit cigarette into an open bucket of gas if it has sat a while, and [the gas will] put out the cigarette. It sounds weird, but it's true.

      Somebody was dancing with the Darwin Award.

    5. Re:Danger... by JonathanR · · Score: 5, Funny

      It would be good, 'cause it would turn them into x-windows

  3. well... by Chimera512 · · Score: 5, Funny

    this looks like the ultimate in vaporware, an as yet unavailable vehicle and runs on "air" might as well run on magic aether or unicorn blood. you can't even see air. pfft.

  4. Re:Countdown till said inventor disappears... by paeanblack · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seriously, how many brilliant inventions have we heard of lately, and how many of those vanish just days after being announced?

    What about the far greater number of brillant inventions that vanish before we ever hear about them in the first place?!?!

    If you are going to play the paranoid lunatic, aim high. There is no market for half-assed tin-hattery.

  5. Wow by Tired+and+Emotional · · Score: 4, Funny

    2-3 hundred kilometres - that's long downslope.

    --
    Squirrel!
  6. Re:Uranus alone could provide much of the needed g by cashman73 · · Score: 3, Funny

    So could Washington, D.C. Plenty of hot air there!

  7. Bodacious by greenmars · · Score: 4, Funny

    Those are some bodacious Tatas.

  8. Re:Environmental considerations by el_gordo101 · · Score: 5, Funny

    A heating system for a vehicle like this is going to be very expensive from a power consideration.
    Just use a coal stove in the passenger compartment. Simple, really.
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  9. The Air Car by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 4, Funny

    Damn. I read that headline and thought my flying car was almost ready.

    --
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  10. Re:That's not the case here by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    The best thing about this car is that air-conditioning is very easy and costs no energy. As the air decompresses in the engine, it cools off. Directing that air into the cabin would provide air-conditioning with just about no effort.
    Thing is, in some parts of the world, we still have this thing called "Winter".
    --
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  11. Re:Countdown till said inventor disappears... by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you are going to play the paranoid lunatic, aim high. There is no market for half-assed tin-hattery.

    But if there's a market for half-tinned ass-hattery, then I'm set!

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  12. Flat tire? by Nyktos · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pesky kids let the air out of your tires, just fill em back up with your fuel... or run out of fuel, fill from your tires.

  13. Re:India by User+956 · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you have ever been to India you can see that this is infact a great idea.

    Yeah, but I really would have thought the Dutch would have come up with this idea first. The Dutch have been powering their Ovens with compressed gas for years.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  14. Re:Countdown till said inventor disappears... by ozmanjusri · · Score: 4, Funny
    Perhaps you need to embroaden your perspective a tad?

    Yes, and it's a good idea to embiggen your vocabulary at the same time.

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  15. Re:Air by cammoblammo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do these things go faster than light? It's the only way I can explain the fact that the first post is modded redundant.

    --

    Cogito, ergo sig.

  16. Re:You forgot one by Maniakes · · Score: 4, Funny

    Head on over to USPTO.gov, and show me the invention that solves the energy crisis.

    How about this?

    You just need to find a way to harness the cat's kinetic energy in a usable form.

    --
    A legparnasom tele van angolnaval.
  17. Re:Countdown till said inventor disappears... by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 3, Funny

    I need to embetter my dictionary then, I thought that embroaden was a perfectly cromulent word!

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  18. Re:I'm impressed by compwizrd · · Score: 5, Funny

    lift it, wait for the earth to rotate, put it back down.. you can probably pick up some regenerative braking energy on the way down.

  19. Re:That's not the case here by FrostedChaos · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just put in a heating element and power it off the battery. Or run the motor a little bit.

    "How to use energy to make stuff hot" is hardly an unsolved problem in engineering.

    --
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  20. Re:That's not the case here by jbrader · · Score: 3, Funny

    So then you turn a valve and the cold air doesn't come in anymore. You fucking idiot.

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