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DeadlySquirrel wrote:
On topic, the oil companies make too much money to invest in alternatives. They killed the guy who made a water powered car in the 1900s

still going on

DeadlySquirrel wrote:
Fuel wise, get a diesel and run cooking oil or bio-diesel. The engine was invented to run on peanut oil anyway, there's loads of alternative fuels.

gasoline
diesel


have fun

loki old fart wrote:

DeadlySquirrel wrote:
On topic, the oil companies make too much money to invest in alternatives. They killed the guy who made a water powered car in the 1900s

...still going on...

Oy.

You can't make a "water powered car" unless you've somehow developed cold fusion.

biccat wrote:

loki old fart wrote:

DeadlySquirrel wrote:
On topic, the oil companies make too much money to invest in alternatives. They killed the guy who made a water powered car in the 1900s

...still going on...

Oy.

You can't make a "water powered car" unless you've somehow developed cold fusion.

Tell that to cal tec (think that's right), who were proudly showing one on The BBCs tomorrows world. In the 1970s.

In the final anaysis, water fuel cells breaking down H2O into O2 and H2 are just batteries, storing the electical energy used to break apart the H2O.

How green it is depends on how green the electicity was - wind or hydroelectric is one thing, coal quite another.

Vulcan wrote:In the final anaysis, water fuel cells breaking down H2O into O2 and H2 are just batteries, storing the electical energy used to break apart the H2O.

It takes energy to separate hydrogen and oxygen from one another. You could use hydrogen fuel cells as a battery (and this is a decent proposal), but not water. Even so, the conversion process from H2O -> H2 + O -> H2O is pretty inefficient.

I'm curious what the "physics" are of a water-powered car. Does it use water as a gas substitute? Separate and recombine the molecules, releasing helium and oxygen?

Judging by the video above, the 'fuel cell' breaks down the H20 into H2 and 02, then burns the H2 in the engine.

For a more unbiased analysis: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/alternative-fuel/gas-mileage/4271579

You use an electrolysis cell to separate the hydrogen and the oxygen. You then oxidize (i.e. burn) the hydrogen in a fuel cell to create energy and power the car (generating water in the process).

Yes, it takes energy to separate the hydrogen and the oxygen in the first place. Yes, you need to put more energy in than you will get out.

But, like with pure electric cars, the power grid does produce energy cleaner than your personal car does. Gas is not a great way to generate power in terms of efficiency, it just as a very high energy density (so you can run a car for a long time on just a few gallons of gas). If we could find a storage method that lets you store the same amount of energy as a gas tank (and lets you recharge it in a reasonable amount of time), we'd cut down significantly on pollution. That could be a chemical battery, or it could be hydrogen (either generated in the car or purchased from a hydrogen station).

Oh yes, from a green standpoint it's much better than gasoline. And using an on-board electrolysis cell means you don't have to store large quantities of hydrogen a la the Hindenberg. It also goes a long way to fixing our oil addiction, which I am all in favor of.

But it's not a magical fix for all our problems. Pollution and CO2 overproduction also need addressing.

Grakmar wrote:You use an electrolysis cell to separate the hydrogen and the oxygen. You then oxidize (i.e. burn) the hydrogen in a fuel cell to create energy and power the car (generating water in the process).

Yes, it takes energy to separate the hydrogen and the oxygen in the first place. Yes, you need to put more energy in than you will get out.

Why have the electrolyser and oxidizer in the car in the first place? Just stick in a battery and an electric motor. It will be more efficient.

If you're simply talking about a hydrogen cell, no problem. But water electrolysis is a pretty inefficient means of producing hydrogen.

Because batteries are REALLY HEAVY, and prone to degrade in performance over time. Oh, and they are REALLY HEAVY too. Weight pays a big role in performance, both top speed/accelleration and endurance.

so i live on the east coast in PA where its largely rural. one of the largest problems we have in PA is our roads in general. they suck. they fall apart or have loads of holes. half the time when they fix a road its already under repair a few months down the road.

we also have this problem that practically every town is historical and it really limits expansion. for any real fix to the problem they have to forcively buy out people's houses to expand the roads.

i hate the NE US so much because of this. everything is so cramped because there is no place to expand to. drive in Philly and tell me it was fun.

when you go out west everything is spread out and easier to get about which makes taking a bus, car pooling or even using the highway a breeze.

You're gonna have to try harder than that! Ice storms make great pictures.

Got a diesel suv?
need to save money?, run it on old unwanted models/sprue ETC