Compressed-Air Car Nears Trial

DeviceGuru writes "Air France and KLM have announced plans to conduct a six-month trial of a new zero-emission, compressed-air powered vehicle. The AirPod seats three, can do 28 mph, and goes about 135 miles on a tank of compressed air. Motor Development International, the vehicle's developer, expects the AirPod to reach production by mid-2009, and to sell for around 6,000 Euro. Initially, it will be manufactured in India by Tata Motors, and distributed in France and India."

Comments

Re:I'm not sure I get it...

[sammyF70]

I see quite a few actually

• I assume building and recycling a gas tank/engine is better for the environment than it's the case for batteries.
• compressors needed to supply the compressed air in the first place are cheap and easy to make, and can easily take advantage of alternative energy.
• Filling your gas tank is near-instanteanous (at least compared to recharging a battery)
• it's noisy compared to electric motors, so no worry you get overrun by this pesky 28mph-race machine at night because you didn't hear it coming!

Seriously though, about the 28mph : this is marketed as a city car. Most of the time, in cities, you'd be happy to be driving at that speed. In most bigger cities, the circulation is stop and go for the better part of the day, along with some awfull air polution. Only airpowered car would be a blessing .. I guess there is a reason why India is so interested in this technology.