Can a car run on AIR?

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4

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India’s largest automaker is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets in August of 2008.

Barring any last-minute design changes on the way to production, the Air Car should be surprisingly practical. The $12,700 CityCAT, one of a handful of planned Air Car models, can hit 68 mph and has a range of 125 miles. It will take only a few minutes for the CityCAT to refuel at gas stations equipped with custom air compressor units; MDI says it should cost around $2 to fill the car’s carbon-fiber tanks with 340 liters of air at 4350 psi. Drivers also will be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car’s built-in compressor to refill the tanks in about 4 hours.

Of course, the Air Car will likely never hit American shores, especially considering its all-glue construction. But that doesn’t mean the major
automakers can write it off as a bizarre Indian experiment — MDI has signed deals to bring its design to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa.

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Compressed-air vehicles are comparable in many ways to electric vehicles. Their potential advantages over electric vehicles include:

• Slow cyclic movement (10 to 60 cycles/minute),
• High torque for minimum volume,
• The sequential mechanical design of the engine is simple and robust
• They do not suffer from the effect of corrosion of batteries in hot, humid climates
• Low manufacture and maintenance costs as well as easy maintenance are claimed
• Compressed-air bottles can be disposed of or recycled with less pollution than batteries
• The tank may be able to be be refilled more often than batteries can be recharged