The Indian conglomerate Tata, who last month unveiled the world’s cheapest car, has now released plans to market the most environmentally friendly car.  Running almost entirely on air, and releasing no pollutants into the atmosphere at low speeds, the vehicle, to be known as the OneCAT, may be on sale in India before the year is out.

The model will be a three-seat, fibreglass model weighing only 350kg and is estimated to be priced at about £2, 500.  Rather than the traditional method of filling up on petrol, refuelling the OneCAT’s tank will entail topping up on compressed air at a cost of as little as £1.  This should then power the car’s piston engine for somewhere between 125 and 185 miles.  At higher speeds, however, the car will burn small amounts of conventional fuel, to reach a top speed of 67 miles per hour.

Moteur Development International (MDI), a family owned, French company has spent the past ten years working on what has been dubbed the “air car”.  A spokesman for the group recently proposed that “the engine is efficient, cost-effective, scalable and capable of other applications, like power generation.”

With oil prices having increased to hit a record high, energy efficiency has become a key factor in modern car production, with a number of rival technologies competing to appeal to the market.  Up against electric vehicles, bio fuels, hybrid engines and hydrogen-based fuel cells, MDI hopes that its “zero emission” cars will improve the eco-car sales which are currently languishing in the thousands.