Driving On Air: The Cleanest Car Around?

Driving a car that runs on air? It might be a slow road to popularity in the U.S., but the concept is becoming a reality in Europe and Asia. India's Tata Motors has committed to making its popular Nano car run on compressed air, and a hybrid compressed air-gasoline vehicle is in development in Zurich that would reduce fuel consumption by 32 percent.

Guy Negre is the man who has been driving the research behind the technology for years. He's a former designer for Renault, and now spends his time at his factory in Carros, France, working to turn his belief in air power into a practical reality. Negre says that he's developed a car that can travel more than 30 mph and up to 65 miles on one minute of charging. He faces skepticism, not least because the capacity for compressed air to store energy is quite limited. But he claims that air-powered driving is the way to a clean future.