India's Tata funds air-power car

French inventor Guy Negre has received the backing of Tata Motors of India for his forthcoming OneCAT five-seater with a glass fiber body, powered by compressed air stored in carbon-fiber tanks.

The car weighs just 350kg and could cost the equivalent of just over $5,000.

The project is being backed by the Indian conglomerate Tata with an undisclosed sum. Tata recently introduced a high profile low-cost vehicle itself (see Hyundai introduces competitor to India's Nano minicar.)

The tanks, built into the chassis, are to be filled with air from a compressor in just three minutes, quicker than most electrical batteries.

Alternatively, it can be plugged into the power grid for four hours and be charged by an on-board compressor.

For long journeys, the compressed air driving the pistons can be boosted by a fuel burner which heats the air so it expands and increases the pressure on the pistons. The burner is being designed to use all kinds of liquid fuel.

Its designers say on long journeys the car should do the equivalent of 120 mpg.

The CityCat model is to reach a top speed of 68 mph, with a driving range of 125 miles on a full tank of squashed-up air, with a full tank estimated to cost around the equivalent of only a few dollars. Tata estimates 6,000 Air Cars could be produced by the end of this year.

Designer Negre downplayed safety concerns; if the air-car crashes the air tanks won't shatter, he said—they will split with a loud bang.

"The biggest risk is to the ears," he said.

Negre says he has signed deals to bring the Air Car to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa.

Analysts say the fact that the project has the backing of an internationally well known company such as Tata finally makes the idea marketable.

Inventor Negre has been promising the vehicle for more than a decade.

Parts of India are desperately short of electricity. On Tuesday, officials announced that Delhi and Moscow had finalised plans for Russia to build four new nuclear power stations in India.