And we have lots to tell you about what Air Vehicle inventor Guy Negre and
his development team in Carros, France, are doing, including the October 9
announcement of a new Air Vehicle city transport solution called the AIRPod.
Also, all the Air Vehicles get new names!

When will the 4-door, six-seat US model be available? They expect it to be
manufactured in the US in 2010. They originally planned to take reservations for
the vehicle in 2008 but now plan do so in mid-2009 as we now anticipate demand
to far exceed the early production capability. (more…)

A group of students at Cornell University in Syracuse, New York have
designed a car that will go 100 mpg. Cornell’s AXP team formed in the
spring of 2007, are hoping to take home the 10 million dollar prize offered
by Progressive Insurance. The students claims that the car should be ready
to go by as early as May 2009! Some of the sponsors are GE, Lockheed Martin,
Toyota, Popular Mechanics, Tektronics, and Exide. (more…)

Well, finally, CNN decided that the air car might generate some interest by
writing about it.  The comparison with the Prius is stirring up some questions
but the air car will beat it out.

The air car is still coming to America in 2010 and have produced a plan on how
production would be handled below. (more…)

OK kids, a few days ago I promised you some exciting news on the first air car I
blogged on, (Air Cars 05/01/2008), by the next day. My bad, my apologies, but I
wanted some confirmation on it. Got it – here’s the scoop.

The French company MDI (Moteur Development International), has licensed ZPM (Zero
Pollution Motors) of New Paltz, N.Y., to produce the air powered car for North (more…)

No, not like the Jetsons, but cars that run on compressed air. Like power tools have
done for decades.

Two companies, one in Nice, France and one in Melbourne, Australia.

First the one in France, MDI, is developing the first commercial air driver car. They
are experimenting with taxis, vans, and people movers that could one day go non-stop
for 4500 kilometers (2996 miles) on one tank of fuel (air).

Compressed air pushes the pistons up and down, rather than tiny explosions of
gasoline, which leaves the only emission of plain breathable air.

The engine is a regular 4 cylinder piston engine just like normal. The difference is
the weight is less than half, because the components can be made of aluminum, no
combustion, no heat. If you hold your hand on the running engine, it barely feels
warm.

There are 3 compressed air cylinders in the aluminum chasis, under the seats.
Compressed to 150 times the air in car tires. So, the cylinders are made of carbon
fiber in case of an accident, they just split open instead of exploding shapnel
all over like metal cylinders would do.

When they finally go to market, the top speed will be about 110 kph (68.35 mph) and
200 kph (124.27 miles) before you have to refill the tanks. Great for city driving.
It will take 3 minutes to refill the car at a compressed air service station. Or
plug into an electrical outlet at home, the on board compressor will do the job in
about 4 hours for about $2.00 of electricity.

For rural driving, they plan a hybrid engine (petro or bio-fuel, for faster speeds
and longer distances. The hybrid would use a small amount of gas to compress air as
you go. One tank of gasoline would take you from L.A. to New York.

They will be available in 2, 4, 6 cylinders and cost less than $15,000.