The idea of a car running on water may have seemed incomprehensible a couple of decades ago. But today, buoyed by the incessant increase in gasoline prices, more and more scientists are working on coming up with a car that runs on water by harnessing the mechanical energy of hydrogen.
Unknown to many, the idea of a car running on water is not a new one. In fact, there was an invention in the early 1900s that also brought up the idea of tapping the mechanical energy of hydrogen in running vehicle engines. But scientists have had to spend years in order to develop this idea and make it a practical solution to the ever-increasing prices in oil products.
The closest they have gotten to this far is through the use of a hydrogen generator kit. This is a device which splits the hydrogen and oxygen components of water through electrolysis in forming Brown’s Gas or HHO gas.
However, this gas is not enough to completely run a vehicle. Rather, this is a complimentary to gasoline since it provides a host of benefits to vehicle owners, particularly in improving the engine efficiency of a vehicle. For one, by mixing HHO gas with gasoline, the gas mileage of a vehicle engine can be increased by up to 80%. Various estimates also cite that those using HHO gas can save up to $1500 in gasoline expenses for a year. These estimates may differ according to the age of the vehicle and the type of generator used.
These hydrogen generator kits are available in various hardware stores and even in the Internet. There are many kinds of hydrogen generating devices available, although the simple types can be purchased for $200. The more comprehensive devices are available for up to $800.
While hydrogen generator kits may seem like good enough to address the problem of increasing prices of oil products, experts are working doubly harder to come up with 100% hydrogen fueled cars.
This is seen to be an ambitious goal, given the many downsides that hydrogen has in fueling cars.
First, the downside of using hydrogen is that it is hard to start up the engine in hot and cold weather. Experts are still working on ways to address this concern. Another difficulty in rolling out hydrogen-fueled cars is the lack of distribution infrastructure. This means that the current fueling system that we have needs to be overhauled and installed with hydrogen filling stations instead for this technology to be made available in the mainstream. While this may sound like an ambitious and futuristic plan, the problem is that it would take trillions of dollars to necessitate a change in the distribution infrastructure. Today there are a few hydrogen refilling stations available in the United States, although plans are underway to build more refilling stations, particularly in California.
According to experts, cars that completely run on water are about to be rolled out in the next few years as countries realize the many benefits of having hydrogen as source of energy. With the unabated increase in oil prices, cars that run on water should be the next big thing.
