Hasta La Ideas

Of all the reasons to be named one of your city’s Top 100 Most Influential People, Melbourne-based designer and Coroflotter Dean Benstead’s got a cool one: He’s developed a motorcycle prototype, called the O2 Pursuit, whose only fuel is a scuba-diving tank.

That’s right, no gas, no electricity, just compressed air. “A solar panel and a compressor now becomes your refinery,” Benstead told SmartPlanet, “and without huge battery packs to dispose of, we now have a low-cost to free powered bike with minimum impact on the environment.”

Benstead designed his air-powered 02 Pursuit motorcycle around the “Engineair” technology developed by fellow Melbourner Angelo Di Pietro. The Di Pietro Motor is an astonishingly brilliant rotary-piston design that uses far less parts than a conventional motor, can deliver instant torque, and provides a friction-free environment for the piston to turn by cushioning it with air.

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