Misleading headline.

A product is only 'here' when it's available for purchase.

Compressed air cars are standard vapourware. They were "here" in South Africa eight years ago – and no-one's driving around here on a puff and a hiss yet, I can assure you.

A more promising idea is the use of liquid air (even better energy density). Both suffer from one (or should that be two?) extremely major flaw(s). As you compress a gas it heats up and is lost to the environment, unless sophisticated heat recovery mechanisms are used the overall efficiency of such systems is very poor compared to a standard EV. The second aspect, is that as the compressed gas does work in the engine, it cools down. This leads to problems of icing. The cryocar has gone some way to tackling these but as far as I know, such systems can never acheive particularly great efficiency (thermal changes means Carnot efficiency comes into play, which is a real killer for many vehicles).

More treehuggable than the EV? Air cars use more energy than electric cars. Period. Every time you transfer energy, you lose some.

Electricity to compress air, compressed air to turn engine to turn wheels. (plus upgrading infrastructure)

vs.

Electricity to turn wheels. (use existing grid)

It works. Tata, the largest car maker in India, has licensed the MDI technology. They're not idiots.

The MDI air car is being entered into the Automotive X Prize by a group called Zero Pollution Motors - maybe the race will be enough to finally get some of these cars produced?

ZPM Air Car - at xprizecars.com

As I understand it, this vehicle will ultimately rely on an onboard compressor powered by gasoline or nat gas for any substantial range. Said compressor (essentially a modified turbocharger where fuel is burnt on the impeller side) could have thermal efficiencies as high as 40%, though I don't know how well that would translate into mechanical power.

The "air" engine acts as a reduction gear set. One of the primary reasons that gas turbines haven't been used in cars (besides delamination risk) is that a complicated reduction gear set would be necessary as the turbines routinely spin at 100,000rpm (try 1:1 gearing on that with 18" wheels, even 10:1 would produce unusable speeds)

Also, another note:

While compressed air is inherently inefficient (and heavy, search "MDI" over on GCC), it can easily be produced using wind power. Instead of using high voltage electrical transmission, wind turbines could mechanically power compressors which would then pump pressurized air via pipeline into cities where three are filling stations.

This technique is already under development by Norsk Hydro (90% sure its them) for use in offshore wind farms. The thinking goes is that, at the source, offshore wind power is VERY cheap (think

"More treehuggable than the EV? Air cars use more energy than electric cars. Period. Every time you transfer energy, you lose some.

Electricity to compress air, compressed air to turn engine to turn wheels. (plus upgrading infrastructure)

vs.

Electricity to turn wheels. (use existing grid)"

Where can I drive my electric vehicle like a trolley without batteries? :)

Hi Jesse, looks like you have wrong conversion rates... ;)
Car price would actually start at USD 5150 and fill up costs $ 2.20

this is not fresh news: there is no official confirmation from Tata (that i saw) about their plans for the air compressed car and the french firm does not answer to request for information.
We have seen many "innovations" buried (see "who killed the electric car") and in the case of the air compressed car the controversy is still out on at least two points (as showed in the comments): is it really energy efficient and is it safe?
That said it would be really cool :)
and cool to know the answers to the above questions :)

I've been exposing this fraud for years. One early fan, author Guy Dauncy, found an independent road test which revealed the true range to be less than 20% of the official figure.

As indicated in previous posts, air power systems have major liabilities with heat loss. This cycle could actually have some of the benefits of a heat pump, if the compressor station used the heat, and the car had enormous heat exchangers to re-warm the air between expansion cycles. A university car that ran on liquid nitrogen was covered with radiators.

Another major problem with the concept is that all the energy in compressed air can be released instantly. It is not like a hydrogen explosion, where most of the action comes as the fuel mixes with air, but like dynamite, needing only a crack in the tank to blow up completely. SCUBA tanks are more heavily regulated than aircraft or industrial boilers. Any filling station is allowed to destroy a tank they suspect of having flaws. One air car explosion would be bad enough, but a whole traffic jam or parking lot could blow up in a chain reaction if these did become popular.

Besides the electric vs. compressed air issue, the only way tiny cars like this will be safe to drive on U.S. highways is if everyone else is driving one too. Can you imagine this car in an accident with an SUV or even larger transport vehicle?

And the possibility of explosion in an accident.....I think that these cars are a good concept, but the theories really need to meet reality.....

These discussions about technology are a HUGE waste of attention. It's quite natural to be fascinated by technology but this is the ONE thing corporations and capitalism do well. There's NOTHING you need to do, on the vehicle.

The real problem is the rights of way are blocked by obsolete and harmful streets and roads. Please understand that a "Right of Way" is an abstract line, or tunnel, thru 3-dimensional space, that you have a RIGHT to travel across--and those physical zones are already BLOCKED by roads with lanes 10-12 feet wide which also claim the space above, invariably up to 16 to 20 feet high. These cross-sections need be divided to provide at least one lane in each direction that is sane, such as 5x5 foot.

Any state could pass a law dividing one lane of every multi-lane street and highway into two 5-foot-wide lanes, and install steel goalposts to block usage by other vehicles. Let the older cars, and the big trucks etc. continue. But let us have a right of way for saner, smaller vehicles. See my rosehill.net/cars.htm for more.

this would be the ultimate inter city commuter car. 125 mile range is plenty for car pooling or running a small bussiness. such a car makes too much sense thus would be probably be blocked by big oil from usa car sales. a small onboard gasoline driven air compessor would also free the car up for extended trips.

Size is important. A small car like this won't meet US standards. A larger car (with a larger tank) would do the trick, however.

I don't think a US version would see the kind of numbers presented here (even if they are credible) due to DOT heavy bumpers, air bags, etc.

But it's a step in the right direction.

Let's get a first generation production run on the road and begin working out the bugs!

The problem with compressed air cars is the same as that of "flywheel" cars. There's a guy who builds flywheel systems that run in vacuum on ultralow friction bearings. They run up to millions of RPM, then you convert that to energy to run your.
Similarly, compressed air cars run on tanks of highly compressed air.
Both are storing kinetic energy and then converting it to power.

Problem: they are both incredibly powerful bombs. There is no way to shield occupants in case of an accident; basically we'd just see these small mushroom clouds appear every time there was an accident, and another group of motorists would be vaporized.
Imagine safety crews trying to get people out of one of these cars after an accident when the tank hasn't blown YET...

I'm a diver. They say a tank of air that I dive with, if exploded, is enough to propel me several hundred feet in the air.

Now imagine that bomb going off beneath your wheels...

No thanks. It's a neat idea BUT...

I guess no one actually has gone to the website to check out the safety of the tanks.

Straight from the MDI website
http://www.theaircar.com/faq.html#p7

300 bars of compressed air stored on board the vehicle, Is this dangerous for the passengers?
Compressed air tanks have already been tested safe by one of our partners EADS(AIRBUS). This company's reputation in the aeronautical field is indisputable, and they have been proven in a thorough way the reliability of our tanks. What's more, the compressed air does not present any risk of explosion. Countless tests have been carried out in the most extreme conditions (gun shoots, resistance to fire...) to guarantee passenger safety in every possible condition. The high pressure tanks have been developed using a similar technology as those used in natural gas vehicles and by firefighters. All are produced with carbon fiber over plastic.
The tanks that MDI puts in its vehicles are similar to those already in use in natural gas busses in Germany and also other countries.

1 gallon-16 dynite sticks!

as far as the tanks blowing up ...people should check there facts before posting. the tanks are light weight carbon fiber wost case scenario the tank cracks and the air comes out NO EXPLODING NO BOMB!!! check out this bbc vid 1:49 in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v/P8ojkW0pGbA&l=184&sk=pNfDdK8lfEXBnBChpF4qUQC&t=OEgsToPDskKtj_nkOPlUvdLFIFjrtBhZ

and there is plans to have compressors that run on solar power

i can't wait to buy one!

as far as the tanks blowing up ...people should check there facts before posting. the tanks are light weight carbon fiber wost case scenario the tank cracks and the air comes out NO EXPLODING NO BOMB!!! check out this bbc vid 1:49 in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v/P8ojkW0pGbA&l=184&sk=pNfDdK8lfEXBnBChpF4qUQC&t=OEgsToPDskKtj_nkOPlUvdLFIFjrtBhZ

and there is plans to have compressors that run on solar power

i can't wait to buy one!

I expected a little more intelligence on this site...

First: An EV can't compete with the air cars' speed.

Second: The air cars tanks are made out of carbon fiber...they split in an accident, not explode...

Thirdly: The point about the air car just transferring the energy use to the grid..It would be better to have clean cars on the road....and when the power plants are updated to clean power, we will have clean car AND clean power plants...it's better than sticking with fossil fuels in both areas...that's just stupid...I mean, if an alternative energy source can be allied to cars it can be applied to power plants...

the tanks don't explode in a crash...they only split...

Compressed AIR is the ultimate answer! Especially once the power plants are updated.

Why this technology has been ignored makes me very suspicious!

It would eliminate the need for the transportation of fuels. Compressed air can fuel up in minutes as opposed to EV. EV's also involve manufacturing and disposing of batteries. Hydrogen is a horrible idea. My favorite reason being the results of a hydrogen gas leak: water escaped the Earth's environment.

It makes me sad to see the American public will be held hostage, because automakers invested too much money in other technologies and politicians would see less tax dollars.

So the tanks only split? I have heard this 100 times, but I've never seen any proof. I think that we all need to see what happens when the car smashes into a wall before before we believe this claim.

I wonder if suicide bombers have their eyes on this car? India is a great market for such a customer. The price is right too. This car could make their lives (or lack thereof) much easier. :(

tanks may not blow up but 4000psi comes out of a crack extremely fast , the real problem with this car is it only goes about 4.5 miles at 35mph and that is why its not in production it has been this way for 10 yrs, go research how many times it has been said to be released next year