Compressed air car coming with 2010 Breeze

[neverrude]

By JOSH MAX
Monday, March 24th 2008, 7:54 PM
Inventor Guy Negre with his zero pollution vehicle.



New Paltz, N.Y., has long been known as a bastion of progressive thinking, living and being, man. So it's no surprise the town is headquarters for a company planning to produce the world's first air-powered automobile for the U.S. by 2010. The France-based Zero Pollution Motors says it's manufacturing 10,000 vehicles in its first year and expects to sell them for about $17,800. The cars will have 75 horsepower ? that's a little less than the SmartForTwo ? will seat six and will produce zero emissions.
"Electricity powers an onboard compressor to compress air to 4,500 pounds per square inch into a pressure tank contained in the vehicle," ZPM communications director Kevin Haydon told the Daily News from New Paltz. "This can be done in a garage overnight and it will take 1-2 hours. The compressed air is then used to power the engine."
Their car will travel about 1,000 miles at up to 96 mph on one fill-up.
Haydon says he's received over 3,000 e-mails in the last month alone from people wanting to know more, or get an air car. "They're saying things like 'I need an alternative to sky-high gas prices,' and 'I am really concerned about pollution and CO2 emissions and want to reduce my own carbon footprint.' Many express disappointment and mystification that big automakers haven't made more progress on fuel efficiency and emissions, and some even want to volunteer to promote the air car to their friends and communities."
ZPM's parent company, Motor Development International, is a 15-year-old French-based business headed by Air Car inventor Guy Negre. A former aeronautics and Formula One racecar engineer, Negre worked with his son, Cyril, an engineer with Bugatti, and about 30 other engineers to bring the compressed air technology to market. To date, the company holds patents in over 120 countries for their Air Car vehicles. "The air car was born out of Guy's passion for building energy efficient engines for automobiles and airplanes," Haydon says.
"It was a logical next step for him to create clean, ecofriendly engines. The green concept goes beyond the cars themselves and into production. The MDI business model is to license many small regional factories throughout the world that also serve as distributors. The whole concept cuts down the carbon emissions associated with vehicle manufacture and distribution by well over a half."
ZPM will begin taking reservations in early 2008 for U.S. deliveries of the Air Car in early 2010.

http://www.nydailynews.com/services/...2010_bree.html

[row4fun]

I'm in for the pickup.

The hybrid version will get you 3000 miles on 10 gallons of gas
Still won't beleiveit until I see one in person, but if the claims are true wow 800+ miles on less then $5 of electricity

[RobS]

What killed the Tucker? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Tucker_Sedan

It wasn't fraud, it wasn't a bad idea, it was the big 3.

What is keeping mass production of innovative technologies for transportation?

[HAVERODWILLTRAVEL]

I hear that they're coming out with one that runs on Bull Sheet in 2012 but, the first batch is going to the States and Federal government as they will be able to fuel it themselves