The car that runs on air

No, that headline isn’t a typo. This new creation from French giant Peugeot really does run on…air. And it’s coming soon.

Peugeot reckons this air-powered car will be on the road by 2016, with men in white coats predicting it will knock 45 percent off the fuel bill of the average motorist. Oh, and it’ll be cheaper than a Prius.

So how does it work? A conventional combustion engine works alongside special hydraulics and compressed air cylinders that store and release energy. This allows the car to run solely on air or petrol power, or a combination of the two. The air cylinders re-use the energy normally lost when braking, supplying a never-ending source of power.

It’s a revolutionary system and one that, should it work, could render the expensive batteries used in other hybrid cars useless. As an added bonus, Peugeot says the system can be fitted to any normal family car, without changing the external shape or boot size.

So the message is clear. Want to save the environment? Forget batteries, use air. It’s free.