Japanese company Genepax has recently introduced 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 water-fueled car (video from Reuters)
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Wish we have cars the run on water in the US. Gas here is 4 dollars and still going up. Filling up the gas tank is a pain in the butt.
Hydrogen cars are definitly a firm possibility for the future. I think mass transit is also going to take off big. and compressed natural gas is actually cheap to process for cars as well. The US has already reported a big rise in inner city train travel. Japan has the right idea. Corn ethanol won’t last because the price of corn is too high along with other grains like rice etc. We are headed for a food crisis in the world already.
Emilie… ya, I can feel that. The fuel price at my place hike up 40% recently (our price is government controlled btw)… it’s creating mini-havoc in the country.
Hydrogen car is definitely a possibility. We already possessed the ability to produce energy from hydrogen or other hybrid system since years ago… they must be reasons that we are not putting the technology into mass-automobile-production yet.
I believe it’s political issues that struck… for example the mega oil producing countries might be threatening others (US & Japan etc) that they would cut the fuel supply right away if the hydrogen cars are produced in mass. It’s just a thought, but there is such a possibilty.
wow, science is amazing!
this is such a smart idea.
too bad it doesn’t last that long.
everything around the world is getting expensive now.
it makes people (like my parents) worry about their future living.
the oil companies put pressure on other countries and the governments. Even the US government feels their pressure. (they are the biggest lobby power in Washington).
The oil producing nations such as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran etc also put pressure on everyone by how much oil they choose to produce…or not produce. High oil prices make it more expensive to refine the oil into gasoline.
Also, there’s more demand around the world now for oil than before. developing nations such as China are hungry for oil as well as other raw materials with their growing economy and infrastructure.
A big factor right now in oil prices is the comodities investors. They keep pouring more and more money into the oil comodities on the bet that oil will keep going up. That in turn just causes it to keep going up.
Yeah, gas like doubled here in the US. Luckily, I have a small car so it only takes about 40 dollars to fill up for the week.
Anonymous: I know ethanol is more expensive to make then the gas we’re using now.
Have you heard of the cars that can run on used cooking oil?
Last time I watched a documentary of two guys experimenting their car with cooking oil and travelled across US. They basically just went into those fast food restaurants they passed by and asked for their used oil (which are going to be thrown anyway) and filled their tanks… can’t remember if they succeeded in the end, but they made it pretty far.
Recycling cooking oil is a good idea… it’s cheap and it helps reducing pollution. However, why need oil (any kind of oil) when all we need is any kind of water? :p
While I am sure all the Oil and Gas giants will try to kill this project, I am really glad this technology is finally available.. not because it is cheap, but because it benefits the environment.
I will definitely buy one when it hit our shores no matter how ugly it is. Hope everyone will too.
Yep, I heard about the guys using cooking oil. Interesting idea. Give ‘em a high mark for ingenuity. At least there’s some people trying new things. They said they have to use ALOT of cooking oil to process it into fuel. They heat it up to a water consistency and then run it through a filtering system to remove any impurities. By the time they finished the trip they said the inside of their car and their clothes smelled like a french-fry factory.
Lol. Might not be too good when going to an important business meeting in your finest taylored suit I would imagine. Unless they’re serving burgers and fries at the meeting…then they might not notice the smell.
I agree with Anonymous, where oil companies still monopolize the market by pressuring the government and country. This is the main reason why solar-powered and hydro-powered cars are not yet established. Market speculation has caused the drastic hike of petrol price.
so many serious discussions haha, let me join in two cents :)
the oil price is definitely the work of some greedy people, saying shortage all the time but never heard any places that are really in shortage. country like saudi arab and kuwait is said to have around 100 years of storage, and there are always news that a new source is found around the world. we should start using less petrol to protect environment and keep some resource for future, but this oil price rising is just annoying.
It’s gonna be a slow and hard process to get off fossil fuels in regards to transportation. But they can definitly cut the amount of emmissions into the air and save on the fossil fuel usage in areas like electricity and other elements of power sources more quickly by looking more to nuclear energy. I know that is a controversial subject but fact is it’s the cheapest and cleanest to produce for the amount of energy it can produce. The days of Chernobyl and 3 mile island are past. They now know how to safely build reactors. Nuclear energy, wind power, solar power and a whole host of other alternative power methods for non-transportation energy needs will take some of the demand away from fossil fuels while they try to work out some kind of long term solutions for automobile and transit. Fact is, there’s just TOO MANY PEOPLE that require transportation needs these days IMO and growing. Something’s gotta give sooner or later.
such a smart idea.. Hope it will soon be available to most countries experiencing crisis because of the fuel price..
Not going to happen, at least in the States.
Car companies and/or oil companies will buy the patent for the technology and let it sit in the back closet underneath the tray table for centuries.