Hydrogen (water) powered car? Someone is already doing it...

[tex-wyo-dem]

http://hytechapps.com/

From what I understand, car makers are beating a path to this little company's door.

Some highlights:

- can be combined with diesel or conventional fuel to increase fuel economy by up to 50%. Upgrades to cars is minimal.

- company has developed prototype cars that run on water only.

- no harmful emissions (including no CO2!)

Will be interesting to see what comes of this.

[Ezlivin]

1. If it sounds too good to be true

Caveat emptor, as they say...

[tex-wyo-dem]

3. That's what I thought at first...

but in reading the web site and watching the videos they have, I can believe they are on to something...possibly something big.

[Ezlivin]

6. I'm of two minds on this

It'd be great to find something that is a straight substitute for gasoline. I wouldn't have to change my lifestyle.

It'd be terrible to find this substitute. I wouldn't have to change my lifestyle.

I know that Cheney said that the "American lifestyle is not negotiable," but if we don't all make some changes there will be hell to pay. After reading "Limits to Growth", "Collapse", "The Long Emergency" and "Twilight in the Desert", I realize that we must change for the future of humanity. Otherwise I fear we're going to slip back into the Dark Ages.

[Kikosexy2]

8. Wonderful...

let the Bushco Cabal start the wars for water now that they recklessly tied us up in the war for oil....

[conkar]

2. Seen this months ago

Seen this months go on the news- Was wondering what was going on with it.

[hobbit709]

4. Using electricity

to separate the H2 from the O and then burning the gas works but you have a net energy loss. Hydrogen cars are nothing new.

[Xithras]

5. This isn't what you're thinking.

First and foremost, this is not a "water powered" car as most people would think. The device is really just a fancy electrolysis machine. You dump electricity and water into it, and it spits out hydrogen and oxygen. Mount one in your garage and you can generate your own hydrogen from water to power your hydrogen powered car with.

It's a neat idea (one that has been around for about 100 years now), but it suffers from one serious problem. It takes MORE energy to break water into hydrogen and oxygen than you can hope to get back out of it. Since you're burning a ton of electricity anyway, it's more efficient to simply mount a couple of batteries in the car and go all electric. With the hydrogen step in the middle, you end up with FEWER miles-per-watt than you would achieve with a straight electric vehicle. The hydrogen will provide better range and horsepower than an all electric would provide, but it comes at the expense of efficiency and safety (gaseous hydrogen is explosive).

[tex-wyo-dem]

9. How can it take more energy to separate the water...

than what you get out of the recombination? If I remember my physics classes well enough, energy can not be created or destroyed, it changes form.

Anyway, you are probably right about this concept having its problems, otherwise one would think that this would have been in use by now.

[Canuckistanian]

11. Because you can never get 100% of the energy out

There are always inefficiencies. Waste heat from combustion and mechanical processes means you never get 100% useful energy back from the recombination.

Therefore, a net loss.

[hughee99]

7. Wait until the big water industries get involved.

I have a $2 liter of water on my desk right now.

[Redstone]

10. No, no, no, no, NO! It's just another fraud.

You can't run a car on water!

Redstone