Monday, July 21, 2008

New Hope for Automobiles!

I just receive an email about an automobile that doesn't use petrol, diesel or natural gas. Hard to believe at first for me! However, the type of automobile that doesn't emit carbon from utilizing petrol, diesel and natural gas is a dream come true for the environment.

It is called Air-Car and it is going to be introduced by Tata Motors based in India.

We will have to see how this concept will be implemented in the future. Here are the details of the car. Other car companies should follow this aggressive concept as well.

Quote from my email:
The Air Car, called the MiniCAT could cost around Rs. 3,50,000 ($ 8177) in India and would have a range of around 300 km between refuels. The cost of a refill would be about Rs. 85 ($ 2). Tata motors already launched the world's cheapest car, Tata Nano priced famously at One lakh Rupees by October.

The MiniCAT which is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis that is glued not welded and a body of fiberglass powered by compressed air. Microcontrollers are used in every device in the car, so one tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, indicators etc. There are no keys - just an access card which can be read by the car from Your pocket. According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees per 100Km (about a tenth that of a petrol car). Its mileage is about double That of the most advanced electric car (200 to 300 km or 10 hours of Driving), a factor which makes a perfect choice in cities where the 80% of Motorists drive at less than 60Km. The car has a top speed of 105 kmph. Refilling the car will, once the market develops, take place at adapted petrol stations to administer compressed air. In two or three minutes, and at a cost of approximately 100 rupees, the car will be ready to go another 200-300 kilometers.

As a viable alternative, the car carries a small compressor which can be connected to the mains (220V or 380V) and refill the tank in 3-4 hours. Due to the absence of combustion and, consequently, of residues, changing the oil (1 litre of vegetable oil) is necessary only every 50,000Km. The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0-15 degrees below zero, which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power.