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BBC NEWS
Five-seat concept car runs on air
By Roger Harrabin
Environment analyst, BBC News
An engineer has promised that within a year he will start selling a car that runs on compressed air, producing no emissions at all in town.
The OneCAT will be a five-seater with a glass fibre body, weighing just 350kg and could cost just over £2,500.
It will be driven by compressed air stored in carbon-fibre tanks built into the chassis.
The tanks can be filled with air from a compressor in just three minutes - much quicker than a battery car.
Alternatively, it can be plugged into the mains for four hours and an on-board compressor will do the job.
For long journeys the compressed air driving the pistons can be boosted by a fuel burner which heats the air so it expands and increases the pressure on the pistons. The burner will use all kinds of liquid fuel.
The designers say on long journeys the car will do the equivalent of 120mpg. In town, running on air, it will be cheaper than that.
"The first buyers will be people who care about the environment," says French inventor Guy Negre.
"It also has to be economical."
Major savings
Mr Negre has been promising for more than a decade to be on the verge of a breakthrough. Independent observers are more convinced this time because he recently secured backing from the giant Indian conglomerate Tata to put the finished touches to the engine.
Tata is the only big firm he'll license to sell the car - and they are limited to India. For the rest of the world he hopes to persuade hundreds of investors to set up their own factories, making the car from 80% locally-sourced materials.
"This will be a major saving in total emissions," he says.
"Imagine we will be able to save all those components travelling the world and all those transporters."
He wants each local factory to sell its own cars to cut out the middle man and he aims for 1% of global sales - about 680,000 per year.
Terry Spall from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers says: "I really hope he succeeds. It is a really brave experiment in producing a sustainable car."
But he said he was interested to see how the car would fare with safety tests and how much it would appeal to a public conditioned to expect luxury fittings adding to the weight of the vehicle.
Mr Negre says there's no issue with safety - if the air-car crashes the air tanks won't shatter - they will split with a very loud bang. "The biggest risk is to the ears."
Story from BBC NEWS:
[HYPERLINK@news.bbc.co.uk]
Do you think we are ready here to downsize our vehicles? Can it be done? I'm 6'3" and 190 pounds. I don't think I can get me and 5 of m buddies in that car.
But it's a great start. I would get one just to commute to work.
Well, BB... first of all we CANNOT get even them here so it becomes hypothetical, LOL. Second, if we had them, I'd hate for one of our US behemoths to crash into me in one. BUT... wouldn't one be great for the work commutes? Maybe a separate highway lane solely for extra-lightweight vehicles? An air bag that engulfed the whole car rather than passengers? I just love playing "What If'...
At another board I go to, they were disusing the car made by Tata motors and the safety of the car was slammed.. Makes great sense in India where they don't have a bunch of larger vehicles already roaming the roads. But it would be GREAT for a work commute. I have an 1 mile commute and would get one in a heartbeat. ANd the concept of a dedicated lane is great. I mean they have them for bikes right?
At last: A SERIOUS attempt to break out of the big oil dependency. This will be great for the whole world when the bugs get worked out. Better in so many ways and maybe no more wars over oil. It would be even sweeter if the USA had been the leader of the pack. I just hope that if Detroit isn't going to lead that they will at least stay out of the way.
