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."

Comments

Re:India

[JimDaGeek]

Why would something like this suck for the USA? For someone that spends most of their time in a city area, I think it would be great.

Heck, if the top speed was a little higher, I would be all over something like this. I live in the "burbs" and my commute takes me on a highway where the speed limit is 70 MPH. That actually means, slow people go 75 MPH and most "normal" traffic goes at least 80 MPH. Having a top speed of only 68 MPH is just a little too slow for non urban conditions.

Now, if they can add just 10-15 MPH to that speed, it could be a killer car.

Well, let me be totally honest here. As an American, I love my big gas guzzling autos. Why? Not because I like to spend a crap load of my money on gas or pollute the environment that my 3 little kids have to live in. Nope. I would rather spend that money on a billion/milliard other things. I like big autos because they are generally higher off the ground and most importantly have a crap load more steel in them! Yup. I want my beautiful wife and my 3 angels (my kids) surrounded by as much steel as possible while driving. If had the ability to drive my wife and kids around in an M1A1 Marine Tank (I was a U.S.M.C), I would.

For now, small cars are just not safe enough in an auto accident to protect my precious goods (my family). I will continue to spend money on big @ss vans/trucks/SUV's until there are much higher safety standards.

It only takes one drunk fool or one young punk to kill a family. I won't take that chance, ever. I lost a friend to some young punk driving like an idiot in his "supped-up" little "tricked-out" Honda. I have seen too many little punks in their puny little Honda's that think they have some type of race car. Those little Honda's are slow as balls, yet these little punks think they are all that and got "bling" or something. At my house I have a big old mini-van (a lot of steel), a big old Chevy 1500, and a big old Half-Ton Suburban! They all cost at least $50 USD to fill up, though I don't give a crap. I know that when my wife and kids are in the Suburban or even the min-van, they will most likely come out better in an accident, unless they get hit by a big @ss 18-wheeler. Though those chances are a lot less then the typical American/foreign sedan that most people drive to work.

I have been driving to work (as a programmer) for almost 15 years now. The majority of bad/selfish drivers I see all drive nice little sedans. They are on their cell phones, putting on make-up, shaving, etc. or are some little punk in his "tricked out" little Honda. I have seen far too many accidents where these type of people are always rushing around, trying to get here or there as fast as they can, you know, because they are important. I have had so many @ss holes cut me off, just because they didn't want to merge behind me. I guess they thought they were more important and should be able to speed up in a merge and just force me to either slow down (which is not the law) or force me to get out of their way.

When I drive to work I usually drive my big V-8 Chevy 1500 that is jacked up and on some really big @ss tires (no I am not a redneck, I bought it that way), or my big-dog Suburban. While I always try to help the flow of traffic by getting out of merge lanes when I can, however if I cannot, don't think about forcing me off the road. I know I will win that fight against all those little sedans/commuter cars/"tricked-out" Honda's.