The First Air Car Test - Tata are Licensees of the Technology

Edmunds.com's Insideline blog has the first test of the MDI Air Car by any magazine / website at: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=151246?tid=edmunds.il.home.photopanel..1.* This, of course, is a technology that some have been saying would never work. And others have been decrying for reasons known 0nly to themselves and to the industries that write their paychecks. There has been some speculation about how the air to fill this car's tanks would be compressed. These people haven't, of course, heard of wind, solar or geothermal power for some reason. And, of course, when an Indian company buys the rights to a certain technology and plans to use it in its cars, it has to be a mistake, right? These are the same bozos who also said that the Nano would never be made, and, probably, are the same doofuses who said that Renault's takeover of Nissan was such a flop show that Renault could have thrown gold bars worth what they paid for Nissan into the sea. Yes, there are idiots writing in mainstream newspapers and magazines, if you didn't know. And MDI, like Renault, are French, so they must be just as bad as those Indians, right?

Which makes Insideline's test all the more admirable. They have tested the Air Car in France and made it clear that they have seen that the technology works. Sure, it needs to be improved. The internal combustion engine was invented more than a hundred years ago and the large auto manufacturers are still working to improve it. What is significant is the short fill up time - just two minutes using compressed air pumps at filling stations. And, I think, this technology could be used on motorcycles also. My hat's off to MDI for their amazing new idea and to the Tatas for having the foresight to rush and support the technology by licensing it at once. MDI's website is: http://www.mdi.lu/english/airpod.php and, of course, if you want the Tatas's website with links to all their companies, check at: http://www.tata.com/

Compressing Wind in Underground Caves to Generate Power

As yet another example of out of the box thinking, a number of businesses are coming up with different methods of storing power generated by wind. The most interesting of these (to me, at least) seems to be an American initiative in storing strong winds in underground caves and compressing them so that when let out, they could drive a turbine and generate power. The businessman promoting this project got his inspiration from the idea of the Air Car - time to feel proud India because the Tatas are busy working on this technology which they have licensed from its French inventor - and I hope that this would be replicated at other spots around the world. The Times link is: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5992419.ece