The Tata AirPod : India's tiny air-powered prototype car ( the car that runs with air )

Gasoline is already the fuel of the past
The search is on, but what will this fuel of the future be?

Air? At first glance, the idea of running a car on air
seems almost too good to be true. If we can use air as
fuel, why think about using anything else? Air is all
around us. Air never runs out. Air is nonpolluting. Best
of all, air is free.

Zero Pollution Motors, LLC predicts air compression.

Unfortunately, air alone can't be used as a fuel. First,
energy has to be stored in it by squeezing the air tightly
using a mechanical air compressor. Once the
compressed air is released, it expands. This expanding
air can be used, for example, to drive the pistons that
power an engine. The idea of using compressed air to
power a vehicle isn't new: Early prototypes of an air-
powered vehicle go back to the middle of the 19
century, even before the invention of the internal
combustion engine.

The AIRPod vehicle, developed by MDI (www.mdi.lu),
is the solution to urban pollution and urban mobility.
With its small size, a tiny price, zero pollution, and a
fun and futuristic design, AIRPod marks a turning
point in the range of urban vehicles. It is a real
breath of fresh air in cities and the prelude to travel
without pollution.

Using a special prototype, Tata have announced that
they were able to boost the existing range of the vehicle,
and it can now reportedly travel as much as 200 km or
125 miles, before needing to be recharged. Despite being
cheap and very efficient to run (only costs the equivalent
of 3 Euro Cents per mile), it will be a joystick-driven
modern machine, which has a top speed of 80 km/h

Tata seems to be avoiding giving an exact date for when
the car is to be launched, but since the technology itself
is very simple, and India needs a cheap and
revolutionary form of transportation, they`d better do it
sooner rather than later. However, with an expected
price of around €7,000, for what is basically a 300 kg
covered motorcycle, some may find it a tad on the
expensive side.

Main advantages:

Its lightweight design (just under 300kg) means it will
require less raw materials and energy to manufacture
than a standard compact;

Zero emissions from driving;

At just 7,000 euros, it will be considerably cheaper to
buy than most battery-powered cars;

Refueling can be done at home using the car’s inbuilt air
compressor (3.5 hours) or at service stations (3 minutes);

Low running costs: approximately 18 kilowatt hours per
charge, which, at a rate of 20 euro cents per kWh
equates to 3.60 euros per charge/125 miles;

The energy required for compressing air is produced at
large centralized plants, making it less costly and more
effective to manage carbon emissions than from
individual vehicles;

Low maintenance costs as it doesn’t require a cooling
system, spark plugs, starter motor, mufflers, etc;

The rate of self-discharge is very low compared to
batteries that deplete their charge slowly over time.

Therefore, the vehicle may be left unused for longer
periods of time than electric cars;

Reduction or elimination of hazardous chemicals such
as gasoline or battery acids/metals;

Disadvantages:

Like battery-powered cars, compressed air-powered cars
like the Airpod require electrical energy to ‘re-fuel’ in
terms of the electricity needed to run its compressor.
Current research suggests that the Airpod will use about
twice as much electricity in this way as a battery-
powered car of a comparable size;

Relatively low efficiency in terms of energy conversion.
The overall efficiency of a vehicle using compressed air
energy storage is in the 5 – 7% range compared to the
‘well to wheel’ efficiency of conventional internal
combustion engines at about 14%;