I’ve always wondered why there haven’t been any water-powered cars released. I think it was back in WWII that certain vehicles ran off water due to the short supply of oil. I imagine that it doesn’t behoove certain companies to have people fueling their vehicles from good ol h20.
Anyway – that aside – it turns out that Japan has finally taken the first step, and is releasing a new water-powered car:
Japanese company Genepax presents its eco-friendly car that runs on nothing but water. The car has an energy generator that extracts hydrogen from water that is poured into the car’s tank. The generator then releases electrons that produce electric power to run the car. The electric powered car can run on any type of water (you can even use tea and soda…etc). The car can run for an hour at about 50 miles per hour on just a liter of water; about 2 cans of soda worth. Genepax, the company that invented the technology, aims to collaborate with Japanese manufacturers to mass produce it.
Interesting stuff, but it does beg the question: How much are these suckers going to cost? Water is a lot cheaper than petrol though, so I imagine it will balance itself out one way or another.
…also, in the picture above; is it me, or does it look like Jason Vorhees from Friday the 13th is driving that car?
Ken Eakins
The Germans during WW2 also made a delta wing ramjet fighter aircraft which ran on coal and was made of concrete; what ever happened to that design?
LOL @ Paul
Paul- I think World War II missed out on quite a spectacle. I can just imagine that German fighter aircraft, attacking our ‘very British’ Pycrete aircraft carriers, made from frozen water and saw dust.
Humans seems to become very resourceful during times of trauma or hardship, sometimes with ingenuity, but often bordering on the psychotic.
I wonder which other historical ideas have met similarly unfruitful demises. Perhaps an idea for a research-based article for SittingNow?
I bet there’s a handful of long-forgotten gems waiting to be discovered and laughed at. Blueprints for a cardboard dishwasher, perhaps? I would use ‘cock-flavoured lollipop’ as an example, but that would be crude.
It’s a hoax (and a few years old at at that). There’s no physical way you can get more energy out of burning hydrogen (where it bonds with oxygen to make water) than it actually takes to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, whether this energy comes from electricity or a chemical source. There’s loads of DIY “Water powered cars” and “HHO gas” stuff on the web and it’s all bollocks, sorry to say.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water-fuelled_car#Genepax_Water_Energy_System
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/alternative-fuel/gas-mileage/4271579
@JW Cool story bro
@PQ oh snap! Well spotted sir!
It’s weird though, the Reuters link was dated the 26th of this month (this year). That’ll teach me to not be thorough. I’ll leave it up for prosperity though.