I currently drive a 1998 Honda CR-V. It has approx. 165,000 miles on it and hopefully it will last for a few more years. After the Honda dies, my goal is to buy an all electric vehicle. This is very exiting to me….I won’t have to buy gas, and there will be less pollution in the air.
Speaking of air, there is already one car out on the streets in France called the CityCAT which sells for $12,700, 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 $2 to fill the car’s carbon-fiber tanks with 340 liters of air at 4350 psi. Drivers also will be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car’s built-in compressor to refill the tanks in about 4 hours. It will also include a wireless control system, voice recognition, GPS guidance, internet connectivity and digital entertainment. A central computer sends signals to microprocessors connected to each device (which should make repairs pretty easy. Just unplug and click in a new microchip and go). Designers have also talked about the possibility of having a battery onboard that powers a generator that compresses the air in the tank so there is no need to refuel. The motor then recharges the battery as you drive. There you have it, a perpetual vehicle that never needs refueling and “0″ pollution.
How does it work?
90m3 of compressed air is stored in fibre tanks. The expansion of this air pushes the pistons and creates movement. The atmospheric temperature is used to re-heat the engine and increase the road coverage. The air conditioning system makes use of the expelled cold air. Due to the absence of combustion and the fact there is no pollution, the oil change is only necessary every 31.000 miles.
The Company
“Moteur Development International” (MDI) is a company founded in Luxembourg, based in the south of France and with its Commercial Office in Barcelona. MDI has researched and developed the Air Car over 10 years and the technology is protected by more than 30 International patents and MDI is actively seeking licensees, with according to the company, 50 factories in Europe, America and Asia signed already.
The Factory
It is predicted that the factory will produce 3.000 cars each year, with 70 staff working only one 8-hour shift a day. If there were 3 shifts some 9.000 cars could be produced a year.
The Tata Agreement
Tata Motors is India’s largest automobile company, with revenues of US$ 5.5 billion in 2005-06. With over 4 million Tata vehicles on Indian roads, it is the leader in commercial vehicles and the second largest in passenger vehicles. It is also the world’s fifth largest medium and heavy truck manufacturer and the second largest heavy bus manufacturer.
Tata has signed an agreement with MDI for application in India of MDI’s engine technology, and believes the engine is viable – it’s press statement described it as “efficient, cost-effective, scalable, and capable of other applications such as power generation”.
The agreement between Tata Motors and MDI envisages Tata’s supporting further development and refinement of the technology, and its application and licensing for India.
MDI is a small, family-controlled company located at Carros, near Nice (Southern France) where Guy and Cyril Negre and their technical team have developed the engine technology and the technologically advanced car it powers.
