THE AIR CAR WILL GO MASSIVE

This Car Runs On Air And Could Get An Astonishing 117 Miles Per Gallon

By: Erin Ruberry

French carmaker Peugeot just raised the bar when it comes to manufacturing an eco-friendly automobile as it introduced its new Hybrid Air engine system, which combines gasoline with compressed air and could run solely on air power up to 80 percent of drive time.

By 2020, the cars could get an astounding 117 miles per gallon. PSA Peugeot Citroën filed 80 patents in connection with the innovative technology, which was developed in partnership with the French government.

By next year, the Hybrid Air will be installed onto some already existing models like the Citroën C3 and Peugeot 208, reducing their carbon dioxide emissions to as little as 69 grams per kilometer. That's well below new European Union guidelinesmandating nearly all new cars sold in the EU emit no more than 95 g/km of CO2 on average by 2021.

Here's how it works, according to PSA Peugeot Citroën:

"An innovative combination of tried and tested technologies: a petrol engine, a unit to store energy in the form of compressed air, a hydraulic motor-pump assembly and an automatic transmission working with an epicyclic gear train... The smart control system adapts the operating mode to the driver's commands and optimises energy efficiency in three different modes: ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle), petrol internal combustion and combined."

Cars running on the new Hybrid Air system will cost about £1,000 ($1664) less than current hybrid models, according to the Daily Mail.