Air Cars Available Soon (in India)

In the not too distant future, the biggest cities in North America will adopt a zero tolerance policy towards automobile pollution. That means that today’s top selling hybrid vehicles, the Toyota Prius, the Honda Insight and the Honda Civic Hybrid would not meet the required ‘zero emissions’ criteria, and would be banned from driving on our city streets. Only electric cars, scooters, bicycles and horses would be welcome downtown… and maybe CATS.

 
The Air Car

CATS or Compressed Air Technology vehicles are cars made to function entirely on compressed air. Tata Motors (the largest auto maker in India) has signed an agreement with Moteur Development International (MDI) of France to develop their MiniCAT and the CityCAT for the Indian sub continent’s primarily urban markets. These cars will run on air, and be very attractive economically - and almost totally pollution free. Some experts believe the cars will be on the market ‘sooner rather than later’.

 
How does it work?

As the MDI web site explains, 90m3 of compressed air is stored inside the MiniCAT in a carbon-fiber tank (to reduce its weight) at 30 MPa (4500 psi). The engine is powered by this compressed air, and has an injection system similar to normal internal combustion engines - the expansion of the air pushes the pistons and creates movement.

 
So what’s the catch?

Though the car itself uses no fossil fuels and is therefore greenhouse gas emission free at the 'tailpipe', it must be taken into account that the tanks are recharged using (typically) electric compressors and that the electricity for such compressors will usually come from power stations, which are known contributors to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Conversion efficiencies of power stations are higher than conversion efficiencies of individual car engines, however.

 
What’s their range?

With the incorporation of bi-energy (compressed air + fuel) the CAT Vehicles have increased their driving range to close to 2000 km with zero pollution in cities and considerably reduced pollution outside urban areas

 
After fourteen years of research and development, Guy Negre of MDI has developed an engine that could become one of the biggest technological advances of this century. His application of Compressed Air Technology (CAT) in automotive vehicles offers proven economical and environmental advantages over other traditional motorcars.

 
Fuel Ghoul would like to thank a WonderCafe.ca user named Waterfall for his contribution to the ‘How will rising gas prices affect society?’ discussion.