By Field Palmer

All across the nation, jaws dropped in a collective gasp as markets plummeted as fast as GM's popularity after “Who Killed the Electric Car?” showboated corporate scandal on a scale only rivalled by Big Oil's dismantling of electric trolleys.

If it were not for the multitude of requests I've recently received to write about the Moteur Development International Air Car I would have loved to devote my weekly Green Chip Review slot to articulate my utter abhorrence of the economic reality that is rearing its sub-prime-pocked head and baring its needle sharp canines in the face of asinine fiscal policy.

But, in times of great distress I remember my colleague's catchphrase, “periods of danger and crisis are also periods of great opportunity,” and as you can imagine, that is much more comforting than pulling a Jim Cramer and crumpling into a sobbing, gibbering, sweating mess on the office floor.
So come along my friends, hike up your skirts and take a line from the Foreign Legion, “March or die.” That's right, onward to one of the most promising technologies of today . . . a car that runs on compressed air.

Compressed Air Technology is nothing new. Since 1896 when Rudolf Diesel made a patent claim for using a supercharger to provide a more dense charge of air to the first diesel engine, compressed air has been used to up power output in almost every internal combustion application.
1994 changed the entire name of the CAT game. Instead of using compressed air to force feed more oxygen and fuel to the engine, ex-Formula 1 designer Guy Negre of Nice, France, devised a way to make a car run purely on air. It can be refilled at modified air compressors found at gas stations for about $2 in only a matter of minutes.

If a compressor is not readily available, the Air Car can simply be plugged into an outlet and an on-board compressor can refill the tanks in about four hours, giving it a range of approximately 124 miles with a top speed of 68 mph.
Now, due to the sensitive nature of revealing how such a technology works, MDI has offered limited information on the drive system.