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Nothing But Air

India's Tata Motors is one step closer to producing cars that run on compressed air.

By Claire_Martin May 8, 2012 10:24AM
MDI Air Pod photo by MDI.Vehicles running on compressed air are one step closer to buzzing through the streets of India, according to an announcement by Indian automotive powerhouse Tata Motors. Tata, which in 2007 signed a licensing agreement with Motor Development International, a Swiss developer of compressed-air vehicles, has just completed the first phase of testing the vehicles. 

"[P]roof of the technical concept in Tata Motors vehicles ... has now been successfully completed, with the compressed-air engine concept having been demonstrated in two Tata Motors vehicles," according to a Tata press release. (Tata is better known for its Nano microcar and for taking the reins of Jaguar-Land Rover from Ford.) Phase two, a fine-tuning of the technology, is up next. Fifty engineers and technicians are working on the project.
Founded in 1991, MDI built its first compressed-air engine in 1996. This is how it works, in a nutshell: When the driver presses the accelerator, a rush of compressed air is released into the engine. The air pushes against the pistons, turning the crankshaft. 
 
The engines are blissfully emissions-free, but they don't go particularly fast, maxing out at just 35 mph. As Tata executive S. Ravishankar said in a 2009 interview, “Air is not a fuel, it is just an energy carrier. So a tank full of air does not have the same energy as a tank full of [compressed natural gas]. Any vehicle using only compressed air to run would face problems of range.”
 
But now, according to reporting by the Scientific American, Tata may have tackled this shortcoming with the addition of a small gasoline engine that takes over at 35 mph. 
 
Compressed-air vehicles have had a few false starts, including an aborted launch in the United States in 2010. But if Tata's second phase of testing goes smoothly, its first production compressed-air vehicle, the fiberglass Mini Cat, reportedly is slated to make an August debut. According to Australia's The Motor Report, the Mini Cat will cost $8,000 to buy -- and just $2 to fill.

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3Comments
VerumEternus
May 9, 2012 5:20AM
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These small vehicles, no matter what they're powered by, are inherently unsafe. 
dwight mikk (mikk323)
May 12, 2012 4:52AM
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any worse than a motorcycle?  This is India they dont have the luxury of perfect cars , they are ;ooking for transportation. 
cheap white vegan
May 23, 2012 7:01PM
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the US should encourage these innovative cars  and similar ones from other mfg. by offering designated traffic lanes, like they do for car pools.  That and a tax rebate of some sort might get us all to start thinking differently about what we really need just to get around town.
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