MiniCat's: the closest thing to an urban revolution.
The MDI MiniCat´s really is a revolutionary urban solution. While carrying the
full MDI "zero pollution" compressed air technology, the car is very small.
Only 2.65 m in length, conventional width and height make the MiniCat´s the
ultimate city car: non-polluting and easy to park...
And the good news doesn´t stop there: the MiniCat´s has two other great
advantages: it has three seats and the boot of a saloon....What more could you
need?
Can you hear the café chatter? Your fuel cell car runs on hydrogen and emits
only water? Oh, Darling, that's so 2004! See my MiniCat over the road there?
Air, sweetie. Thats all it needs. And all it emits. What she probably wouldnt
tell her fellow latté sipper is that it costs a paltry 0.75 per 100km (or $1
USD per 62 miles) to run. Due out this year, the Minicat is powered by a
revoluntary compressed air technology (CAT) engine. How it works is largely a
well kept secret. But the results are a vehicle with a range of about 300km or
10 hours driving. At a purpose built air-refill station it takes 3 minutes to
fill the 91 litre tank. Home filling would require ...
... around 3 hours. And the only emissions are a little cool air, which
they are thinking of harnessing to run a form of air conditioning. And if the
engine is not funky enough for you, what about the car itself?
Guy Negre, the engine's French designer, is figuring on the carss shell
being composed of fibreglass or hemp fibre, over a tubular chassis fixed with
aerospace adhesives. Three seats across the front! The dashboard is really an
on-board computer with abilities like a phone, GPS and traffic information,
etc. Electrical wiring has been reduced by 20 kg (44 lb) and the key is a card
that works by proximity - walking up to the car with the card in your pocket
will automatically open the lock. And the weirdest thing is that the suggested
price for such a wonder is only $10,000 USD. This is partly due to the fact
they have designed their own mini factories to produce the MiniCat, with 23
countries already wanting a piece of the action. Hope they can pull it all off.
Might ramp up the speed of development elsewhere in the auto industry. ::MDI
Air Car [by WM]
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