Cars that run on air - coming soon?
Cars that run, quite literally, on air have been in design and development for a few years now, but this year it seems as if the impossible might actually happen - the French designer / inventor Guy Negre is hopeful that the cars will actually go on sale before the end of 2008. That is amazing!
If it is this year, next year or another five years doesn’t make a great difference, it’s the principle that is incredible. It seems that a reasonably small tank of compressed air can be refilled at your own home, for an electricity cost of less than two euros, which will enable the car to drive 200 kilometres. A hybrid ‘fuel/air’ version should also be available, travelling up to 2000 kilometres on a tank of petrol and a reservoir of air.
What’s more the cars will be cheap to produce and buy - perhaps as little as 5,000 euros will have you out on the open road.
If you are an old sceptic like me, you’ll think it must be impossible. Seems not, and prototypes are now out and about, and at least 50 companies have signed up for licences to manufacture the vehicles.
I imagine this creates a dilemma for governments that profess to want to protect the environment by reducing fuel emissions, but meanwhile receive very large amounts of money in tax on the same fuel.
Do they support the car or not - this is a car with zero emissions! Why has this French designer not been receiving oodles of government cash to help fund the development? Why aren’t Totota and BMW announcing their own air cars?
Anyway, it leaves us with a challenge.
Our decrepit old car will need replacing soon and now we can’t help wondering if we should keep it another year or two until a ‘fresh air’ car turns up.
Don’t believe me? See www.theaircar.com for lots of facts and figures. And yes, in case you missed it in the first sentence, it is a French invention!
