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First Drive: 2010 MDI AIRPod

By Ed Hellwig | June 25, 2009

A car that runs on air? A pipe dream right? Well, yeah, but this little people mover from Motor Development International (MDI) is for real. No gas, no batteries, just compressed air.

Then again, calling this a "car" requires a fairly loose interpretation of the term. Its top speed is only 30mph at this point, but MDI thinks it get th AIRPod up to around 50 mph. It's also limited to one person, so personal mobility device might be a better name.

First Drive:2010 MDI AIR Pod

Categories: Car Tech,Tuners and Modifications

5 Comments

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blueguydotcom says:

07:18 AM, 06/25/09

Cool. Not a bad deal to travel to Nice either. Love Southern France.

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n_tesla says:

08:19 AM, 06/25/09

That's going to have a little problem with Boston's pot holes and weather. Heater? Windshield wipers? Electricity to power a fan comes from where?

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flicmod says:

08:52 AM, 06/25/09

The concept of compressed air is cool. But why must the designers always package it in such an impractical way?!? I kind of think that that's the reason why these cutting edge ideas never get off the ground fully.

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firstwagon says:

09:55 AM, 06/25/09

The amount of energy contained in compressed air is very low. A funky golf cart is all you're going to get.

I can see it being useful for interior applications like giant factories and airports but I'm not sure if the cost of buying, running and maintaining such a high pressure air compessor would make it competitive with battery powered carts.