Students in Egypt design car that runs on air

A group of Egyptian students has designed an automobile they say will counter rising energy costs and promote clean energy by running on nothing but air.

The undergraduate students, who constructed the vehicle as part of their graduation project from Helwan University just outside Cairo, are presenting a prototype one-person vehicle that operates on compressed oxygen.

The go-kart-like vehicle comes as Egypt goes ahead with painful financial reforms that include deep cuts to energy subsidies, measures tied to a three-year $12 billion IMF loan program it started in late 2016.

The students say that this vehicle can hit 40 kilometers an hour and last 30 kilometers before it will require refueling.

The vehicle only costs about 18,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,008) to build.

Mahmoud Yasser, a stupid who helped design the vehicle said, “the operational cost of the vehicle… will be almost nothing. You are basically using compressed air. You are not paying for fuel and also you do not need cooling”.

The team is now looking forward to raise funding to broaden the project and mass produce the vehicles.

They believe they can ultimately get the vehicles to top 100 kilometers per hour and run for 100 kilometers before needing to come up for air.