Australian inventor makes engine that runs off air

Operations Manager Paul Grimes of City-Wide who maintain the city gardens, drives a prototype vehicle

MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) - An Australian inventor claims to have made the world's first commercially-viable motor vehicle powered by compressed air.

The vehicle is being tried out by contractors in Melbourne's parks and gardens over the next 12 months as an alternative to conventional diesel or petrol engines.

The engine's designer, Angelo Di Pietro from Melbourne company Engineair, said the engine produced no pollutants and had only two moving parts, increasing its efficiency over conventional designs.

Di Pietro said it used compressed air to drive a rotary engine, abandoning the pistons and cylinders seen in regular designs.

The vehicle being tested in Melbourne has reached 50 kilometres an hour (31 miles an hour) in the workshop and had proved more efficient than battery-powered golf carts.

Di Pietro said the engine's potential was immense and he claimed to have attracted interest from the United States, China, the Netherlands and Britain.

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