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Air-powered car prepares for production run

The first commercial car to be powered by compressed air could be about to hit the production lines, as Indian automaker Tata Motors prepares to build ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre's design.

Green is the buzzword now in the automobile industry. As fossil fuels are getting depleted at an alarming rate and also causing concern with their emissions, the search is on for lesser-polluting alternative technologies.

Indian automaker Tata Motors, for one, seems to have beaten the others in bringing out the world’s first commercial compressed air-powered vehicle, which is rolling towards the production line. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre, will run on nothing but compressed air with a not too shabby top speed of 68MPH and a range of 125 miles.

Refueling is simple and will only take a few minutes. That is, if you live nearby a gas station with custom air compressor units. The cost of a fill up is approximately $2.00. If a driver doesn't have access to a compressor station, he will be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car’s built-in compressor to refill the tank in about 4 hours.

As EcoGeek points out, the game ain't up just yet for completely emissions free travel since the problem of the source of the electricity (usually acquired from fossil fuels) has yet to be solved.

[ Via ecogeek ]

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