This would have been another major achievement by Tata, but it seems that the much hyped ‘Air Car’ project that Tata Motors undertook along with French engineering firm MDI is facing some technological challenges. Started off two years back, it seems that the company is now facing certain hurdles in terms of vehicle range and cooling. And as per the agreement between Tata and MDI, Tata would support the further refinement and development of the technology.

It was planned that the project would develop a car that can run solely on compressed air, without making use of any other source of fuel. The compressed air expands inside the vehicle and the energy so released powers the vehicle.

As air is not a fuel and it is just an energy carrier, it won’t have the same energy as that of a tank of CNG and so any vehicle that uses compressed air will have the problem of range. Vehicle that uses only compressed air will also face the problem of low engine temperature.

As the company is now only talking and emphasizing on the negatives and drawbacks of the compressed air car, it does not possibly mean that they are moving away from the project. But we cannot also completely believe the compressed air car project will come live. All that we can do is wait and watch.

The company has anyway confirmed that it will be soon launching the electric version of Indica in Denmark, UK and Norway in the next one year.