Zero Emissions on the way?

The BBC news website recently reported on a new invention: a car that runs on compressed air, producing no emissions at all in town.

The OneCAT will weigh just 350kg and could cost just over £2,500. It will be driven by compressed air stored in carbon-fibre tanks built into the chassis. The tanks can be filled with air from a compressor in just three minutes - much quicker than a battery car. For long journeys the compressed air driving the pistons can be boosted by a fuel burner.

The designers say on long journeys the car will do the equivalent of 120mpg. In town, running on air, it will be cheaper than that.

French inventor Guy Negre has recently secured backing from Indian conglomerate Tata. This is the only big firm he'll license to sell the car - and they are limited to India. For the rest of the world he hopes to persuade hundreds of investors to set up their own factories, making the car from 80% locally-sourced materials.

For more on this see http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7241909.stm