MDI Airpod Powered By Hot Air

I’m all for alternative fuel sources. I’ll even accept that Hybrids are at least something being done by car manufacturers, even if they don’t provide enough energy savings to make the extra cost worthwhile. But using air as a fuel source in a vehicle is a new one for me. Sure I had the CO2 cartridge racing cars as a kid, but to take the idea of a compressed gas and turn that into a drive for a vehicle is slightly crazy. That’s exactly what MDI has done with the Airpod.

Here’s the real problem with the “car,” it looks ridiculous. Again I ask why do eco-friendly vehicles have to look like my nephew designed them? The Airpod can reach speeds of 44mph and will travel 62 miles on just $2. The way it works is the driver uses a joystick (awesome!) to instruct the tiny compressed air-powered engine to drive the rear wheels. It takes only a minute or two to reload the engine with hot air and you’re ready for cruising once again. I’d worry less about not being about to hit high speeds and more with looking like a douche driving the Airpod around.

MDI hopes to have the vehicle ready for release in Spring of 2009.