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MDI OneCAT AirCar is more than just a bunch of hot air
We've seen the MDI AirCar before, but back then it was little more than a twinkle in the eye of its inventor, France's Guy Negre. Now, rather than making a plaything for rich tree huggers, Mr Negre really sees his invention as playing a part in saving the planet. He has teamed up with India's Tata, kings of the ultra-cheap car, which has slashed the expected selling price down to about $5000.
Running on compressed air, Mr Negre claims the AirCar can hit the equivalent of 120 mpg on the highway, and do even better around town. Quite how that is calculated isn't clear, but I expect it has something to do with the energy required to fill the built in air tanks.
Tata says it will sell the car only in India when deliveries begin in about a year, but additional manufacturers are expected to license the design for sale in other countries.
From BBC News
By tosser at 2:37 AM ON 02/18/08
afaik there are quite some cars based on compressed air on the road in france.
By didier at 10:50 AM ON 10/07/08
There are no air cars on the road just now, not even in France, but there will be in 2009! Have a look at www.aircars.tk to know all about it!
By Charlie at 5:14 PM ON 09/12/09
The car pictured above is not scheduled for introduction. MDI has downsized the compressed air car to something about the same size and performance as a golf cart.
As always, production will start "next year". But that has been the MDI story since 2000.
Didier's website at aircars.tk usually has the latest info.
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Charlie:
The car pictured above is not scheduled for introduction. MDI has downsized the compressed air car to something a...More »