http://www.theaircar.com/

Sounds like Al Capp's Smogmobile, and it's uglier than homemade sin, but I wouldn't sweat that much if they can improve the range of the thing...

I didn't read the whole thing, but it sounds pretty bizarre and I'm more than a little skeptical.

First, there's all that talk of "industrial secrecy" as an excuse to not really explain things. The claims of one penny per kilometer are extraordinary (if true).

The claims of "zero pollution" by running on compressed air are disingenuous, since it requires burning fossil fuel in order to re-compress the air.

The phrase "expansion at constant volume" makes no sense.

And there are an awful lot of moving parts, with all those piston-to-crankshaft linkages. Lubricated by vegetable oil?! Maybe it could make French Fries while you drive.

Seriously, is this a hoax?

"Seriously, is this a hoax?"

All I can tell you is I found the link from Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the Car Talk guys.

Their Site

Looking around a bit more I came across this article from Wired Magazine.

Their Article

And this at Top Gear (this article is from '02, the one above from '03):

Their Article

and others, so it's not a hoax, at least...


One last thing--there's already someone in California (go figger) who has acquired the franchise rights there:

Check Out The Fun Car!

Oh, well if only I had known it was mentioned by Click and Clack, I'd have been more credulous... Really!

I wonder what ever happend to the car being developed at University of Washington that ran on liquid nitrogen?