Be careful what you ask for

It appears that an air car may well be produced and sold to the public
in a few years.

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7241909.stm>

There's a kicker, though.  Spoiler space:

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    It will be driven by compressed air stored in carbon-fibre tanks
    built into the chassis. ...

    Mr Negre has been promising for more than a decade to be on the
    verge of a breakthrough. Independent observers are more convinced
    this time because he recently secured backing from the giant
    Indian conglomerate Tata to put the finished touches to the
    engine.

    Tata is the only big firm he'll license to sell the car - and they
    are limited to India. For the rest of the world he hopes to
    persuade hundreds of investors to set up their own factories,
    making the car from 80% locally-sourced materials. ...

And, to fend off obvious responses: the BBC article and Negre are
careful to say that it reduces emissions "in town" (I presume that the
coal-fired boilers that produce the electricity that drives the air
compressors are outside of town) and "a major saving in total
emissions" (I presume that the electric generator can be optimized
better).

-- 
Tim McDaniel, tmcd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]