While major auto manufacturers race to bring new electric and hybrid cars to market, other companies are looking at alternatives to electricity – including using air to power cars. The idea of an air-powered car is nothing new, and companies have been touting the technology for the past few years but for now not much has emerged in the way of a production model, largely due to flaws with the design of the vehicles. In fact, many engineers are skeptical of the technology’s use, as the energy required to power air-compressors in air-powered cars is massive compared to using that energy in an electric battery instead. But there are some distinct advantages to be found in the use of air-powered cars, namely their relative inexpensiveness when compared to complex hybrids and electric vehicles. One such champion of this aspect of air-powered cars is the CEO of Zero Pollution Motors, a start-up that has developed its own compressed-air car that it hopes to bring to U.S shores by 2011. Heading up the company is Shiva Vencat, who says that while the ‘whole wide world’ may criticize air-powered cars, at the end of the cars such as the Chevrolet Volt […]