French auto company Peugeot has shown off its latest effort in eco-friendly cars by introducing a new Hybrid Air engine system which combines both a traditional petrol engine with compressed air.

 

The new engine system is capable of running solely on air for up to 80 per cent of driving time resulting in an insane fuel economy, using just 2 litres per 100km.

 

The Hybrid Air system isn’t just some wild concept either, with the engine expected to pop into some already existing models like the Peugeot 208 and Citroen C3, reducing their carbon footprint to well below what the European Union requires which is a big factor for European car makers when designing cars.

 

Peugeot says it will work like this:

 

“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.”

 

These new engine systems are surprisingly affordable, too - with estimates putting the costs of cars running them at around $2000 less than current hybrid systems.