Car Runs Mostly on Air

Developer Zero Pollution Motors is working on a compressed air vehicle (CAV) that could run "all day on nothing but air and a splash of salad oil, alcohol or possibly a pint of gasoline." Cost: $20,000. Timing: 2011.

As far back as 2005, however, experimental vehicles were getting up to 250 mpg. Getting these sorts of vehicles into production requires serious industry and political willpower, not just hot air. Meantime, there are a slew of hybrid SUVs and trucks that get around 21 mpg ... progress?

[How Hybrids Work]

This article is from the LiveScience Water Cooler: What people are talking about in the world of science and beyond.

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Robert is an independent health and science journalist and writer based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a former editor-in-chief of Live Science with over 20 years of experience as a reporter and editor. He has worked on websites such as Space.com and Tom's Guide, and is a contributor on Medium, covering how we age and how to optimize the mind and body through time. He has a journalism degree from Humboldt State University in California.