Linda has been writing about the production of an air car as early as 2008. Earlier this week, I received an email from a friend (since Linda is still away) that just seems ideal for a post here at Forcedgreen. So… while our hover cars might not make it to the assembly line, see what I received regarding the upcoming (potential? real?) production of the Air Car out of India:

Tata Motors in India is ready to introduce Air Car. Will it be the next big thing? Tata Motors is taking giant strides and making history for itself. First the Land Rover/Jaguar deal, then the world’s cheapest car, and now it is also set to introduce the car that runs on compressed air.

Air Car Production Can’t Come Soon Enough

With spiraling fuel prices it is about time we heard some breakthrough!

India’s largest automaker, Tata Motors, is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle.

The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy N. for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets by August 2011.

Air Car Costs

The Air Car, called the “MiniCAT” could cost around Rs. 3,475,225 (US $8,177.00) in India and would have a range of around 300 km between refuels.

The cost of a refill would be about Rs. 85 (US $2.00)

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 100 Km (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 80% of motorists drive at less than 60 Km. 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 air car will be ready to go another 200-300 kilometers.

One Man’s Mission To Wean The World Off Oil

WKRG.com News

One of the 100 most influential people of 2009 by Time magazine is a 42 year old Israeli businessman, Shai Agassi. Whom happens to be developing a global network of charging spots and “battery switch stations,” which will effectively work as gas stations for electric cars. He is a man on a mission to wean the world off it’s oil addiction and turn everyone into electric car drivers. With his California-based company, Better Place, Agassi has partnered with car maker Renault-Nissan to produce the first generation of emission-free electric cars, the Renault Fluence ZE design delivers comfort, styling and flexibility. The world’s first switchable battery electric car will be available in early 2011, which Agassi says “will not be more expensive than your average Sedan.” (more…)

Too Good To Be True? Not With MIT On Our Side

MIT researchers have a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient process for storing solar energy.

Daniel G. Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT, developed a simple method to split water molecules and produce oxygen gas, a discovery that paves the way for large-scale use of solar power.

The researchers developed a new catalyst, consisting of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode. When the catalyst is placed in water and electricity runs through the electrode, oxygen gas is produced. When another catalyst is used to produce hydrogen gas, the oxygen and hydrogen can be combined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power a house or an electric car, day or night.

With Daniel Nocera’s and Matthew Kanan’s catalyst, homeowners could use their solar panels during the day to power their home, while also using the energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen for storage. At night, the stored hydrogen and oxygen could be recombined using a fuel cell to generate power while the solar panels are inactive.

More engineering work needs to be done to integrate the process into existing photovoltaic systems, but Nocera said he is confident that such systems will become a reality.

Nocera hopes that within 10 years, homeowners will be able to power their homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power their own household fuel cell. Electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the past.

But like the old saying goes ….. “an internet video clip from LiveScience.com is worth a thousand words“, so……

Smart Water

A standalone desalinator needs 17 gallons of diesel fuel and 66.5 kilowatts of
electricity to make 1,000 gallons of freshwater, but now, the Solar Cube, (made
by Spectra Watermakers in California), churns out 1,500 gallons of drinking water
on just 22 kilowatts of its own solar and wind power. The innovation is a pump
that triples efficiency by recapturing hydraulic pressure during the filtering
process. Solar Cubes are now bringing freshwater to remote regions and places
short on infrastructure and electricity without paying the CO2 price – way cool. (more…)

Okay, so I thought I would never be writing on a 60 minutes segment, but Leslie
Stahl had one last night that you might be a little interested in, it deals with
electric and electric/hybrids Forced Green has posted on before, so here we go:

One of the reasons electric cars have never taken off has been battery technology.
A few years ago, someone wondered: why not use the batteries they put in laptop
computers called lithium-ion batteries? That’s when the environmentally-conscious
hi-tech industry in California jumped in.

The first all-electric sports car is called the “Roadster” and is made by Tesla
Motors, a small start-up in Northern California. (more…)

This is a definition of “Necessity is the mother of invention”

With gasoline prices continuing to soar and no apparent relief in the future, one
Texas man has come up with his own solution. He built his own electric car. (more…)