MiniCATS: Car Running on Air
When talking about cars, the first thing that comes to mind as far as fuel is concerned is gas or diesel. For some of the more ecologically-concerned citizens, there’s also electricity and even water. One of the lesser known diesel alternatives however, is air. Yep, AIR. The “air” that’s occupying space and everything in between. However, it’s not ambient air that the air cars are running on, but rather, a different kind of air — something like processed air would be more of a correct term.
This MiniCATS three-seater car along with the bigger six-seater sedan called CitiCATS, have debuted in France last 2005. Still, the idea of having air as fuel is still a subject not known to the majority of people around the globe, due to it being a lesser-known fuel option. Due to the ever increasing prices of gas, people are looking for more and more alternatives to help alleviate the pain in one’s pockets for having to spend as much for fuel. All you have to do to be able to use your Air-powered car is to remember to recharge it every night.
As was said, it’s not ambient air that runs these types of cars — it’s compressed air. There’s an electric pump inside the car which compresses the air to up to 300 bars in pressure. That’s why you need to recharge your car for four hours. What runs the car is the escaping air as it moves the car’s pistons. Top speed of this air-fueled car is 70 miles per hour. At full tank and at top speed, the car can travel 50 miles in all. The smaller MiniCATS car initially sold for $9,850 while the larger CitiCATS was priced at $16,000. The number of air-powered cars can only increase in time as it seems to be a worthy fuel-alternative.
