India's largest automaker, Tata Motors, announced this week it will partner up with MDI of France, a technology invention company, to develop engines powered by compressed air. Tata says the agreement "envisages Tata's supporting further development and refinement of the technology, and its application and licensing for India." MDI is the company behind The Air Car.

The way the Air Car's CAT (compressed air technology) works is that an "innovative system" - MDI isn't releasing true technical details because of corporate secrecy - controls the movement of four two-stage pistons (giving eight compression/expansion chambers) and a single crankshaft. A 5kW electric moto-alternator compresses air, recharges the battery, serves as an electric moderator/brake and as a temporary power supply (e.g. for parking).

That sounds positive, but reader Fabio Alemagna says the key problem for MDI's technology is the fundamental problem that the "fuel" conducts freeze thanks to the subzero temperature of the compressed air.

Tata is also working on engines powered by Hithane, a mix of hydrogen and compressed natural gas. For its part, MDI is not limiting itself to India or Tata. MDI president Guy Negre said his company was happy to work with Tata but, "We are continuing the development with our own business concept of licensing car manufacturers in other parts of the world where the production is located close to the markets."

Related:

• India mixing hydrogen and compressed natural gas
• Tata Considering Entry into China
• Old video of air-powered car making the rounds at YouTube

[Source: Tata Motors, h/t to Fabio Alemagna]

Funny how what's old becomes new again, thanks to the archiving power of sites like YouTube. A seven-and-a-half minute video clip from CNN (a global or international version of the news network, by the looks of it) that was posted to YouTube in February just got picked up by MobileMag. The video is of a minicar that runs on compressed air. The technology is the work of Guy Negre, MDI president who used to work on F1 engines and his son Cyril. They have been working on the Air Car in the south of France since 1997 and have over 30 patents on the technology.

Even though the YouTube video was uploaded in February 2006, the original CNN broadcast was from 2004 (The announcer says the vehicles should be on the road by the end of 2004, and the scroll across the bottom speaks of a major suicide bombing at the U.S. military's "Green Zone" in Baghdad). MobileMag is ebullient about the car, which from the video sounds great ($6,000 for a car that can go 110 kmh and doesn't pollute? Sign me up), but the reporter focuses more on calling the car "radical" than on the obvious problems with the car (the cost and energy required to compress the air at home, the range, etc.). While the news is old, it is interesting to see how YouTube can help our collective memory for what kind of car tech was hot in 2004. The Air Car's website from MDI is here.

[Source: YouTube, suggested by Jason Kapadia]