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Car Powered By Compressed Air In Development

Posted on January 9, 2008

Yes, you read right. There is a car being developed that runs on compressed air (called the Mini-CAT or City Cat). I almost didn’t believe it when I first saw it but it’s true. The engine was developed by a former F1 engineer and Tata Motors, a large car company based in India, has decided to use the technology in a new vehicle.

I know what you’re thinking and the answer is that this car can go up to 200km (125 miles) on one tank of air and can reach speeds of up to 110kph (about 70mph) with a fill-up cost set at around $3 (i.e. $3 gets you 125 miles of travel). Not too bad eh? (Woah, just slipped into a Canadian feel there…). “Refuelings” only take a few minutes as well which is no more time than it takes to fill a car with gasoline.

While the car is a zero emissions vehicle it is of course not 100% zero emissions. The air compressors that fill the tank run on electricity which is generated via a number of methods including coal and nuclear and there is a carbon footprint associated with actually manufacturing the vehicle.

However, I figure that the footprint of this car will be far less than hybrids, plug-in hybrids and, of course, gasoline powered cars (ethanol is also a joke… while better than gas from am emissions stand point it has so many other draw backs like its inefficient use of farmland). I haven’t done the research there so if that is off base please let me know in the comments.

It’s great to see interesting innovation coming about by applying old principles to new problems. I am a big fan of the air car and I would probably buy one if they were available in the U.S. That said, the design isn’t too, how should I put this, sexy and the car is probably not the safest one to drive around in. It’s only about $7,000 though!

To learn more about the car and hear from the designer please check out this video over at the BBC.