Zero Pollution Motors, a New York-based company, could be onto something — a new six-seat car that runs on compressed air.

According to media reports, the concept car is based on the technology developed in 1991 by a French inventor and former race car driver for the European-based MDI.

Zero Pollution Motors is the first company to obtain a license from MDI to produce the vehicles. It says it plans to offer its first models in 2010 and with a price of less than $18,000.

The air-car concept has also drawn the interest of Tata Motors, India's largest automaker. The company announced an agreement with MDI last year to further develop and refine the technology.

Tata Motor is scheduled to soon introduce the Tata Nano, the world's least expensive car with a price of about $2,500.

According to Shiva Vencat, vice president of MDI and CEO of Zero Pollution Motors, the compressed air car works similarly to a locomotive, except that compressed air — not steam — moves the engine's pistons.

The vehicle would be able to reach speeds of more than 90 mph and have a range of more than 800 miles, thanks to a dual energy engine, said Vencat said.

The design calls for one or more tanks of compressed air under the car's floor, as well as a separate tank holding at least 8 gallons of fuel.

Whether the engine uses just air or both air and fuel would depend on how fast the car is going. It would run purely on compressed air
when driven at speeds less than 35 mph, Vencat said.

Since the car could only go a short distance when using just air, fuel is needed to get the full range, he explained.

"Above 35 mph, there is an external combustion system which is basically a heater that uses a little bit of gasoline or biofuel or ethanol or vegetable oil that will heat the air," Vencat said.

Vencat said an on-board compressor would refill the air tank while the car is running, or owners could refill it by plugging it into a power outlet for four hours.

According to John Callister, director of the Harvey Kinzelberg Entrepreneurship in Engineering program at Cornell University's College of Engineering, compressed air cars are feasible. Quoted on CNN Online, however, Callister said; “It is possible to power a car with compressed air, but the mileage claim is at the edge of possibility.”

CNN Online also reported:

• Production would be similar to a franchise business;

• The cars would be manufactured by privately owned plants that could produce at least 4,000 vehicles a year;

• The cost of a license to build the car in an "exclusive geographical area" in the United States is about $460,000;

The compressed air car will get a chance to prove itself next year when it competes for the Automotive X Prize. The multimillion-dollar award will go to the team that "can win a stage race for clean, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 mpg equivalent fuel economy," according to the X Prize Foundation.