Run Your Car On Water - Fact Or Fiction?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could run your car on plain, old water? As gas prices sprint past $4.00 per gallon, the idea sounds interesting. Maybe you've seen the "news" footage of the scientist/inventor burning a torch using only water as fuel? Have you seen all the advertisements, especially on the internet, for hydrogen or "Brown's Gas" (a combination of hydrogen and oxygen) generators that will power your car using only water? Sure is enticing - the ability to drive around using a fuel that costs fractions of a cent per gallon, and emits only water as exhaust. But, before you decide to purchase your own hydroxy (another name for Brown's Gas) manufacturing kit, please read a little further, as the facts do not support the hype surrounding this latest fad.

The term "run your car on water" is misleading at best, as water itself will not burn, and this technology relies on turning water into a gas called Brown's Gas, a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen derived by electrolyzing water (H2o) to "break apart" the H (hydrogen) and the o2 (oxygen). The resulting gas will burn under the right circumstances. Theoretically, this gas could fuel an engine like the one in your car. All you have to do is figure out how to get some of it. Search on Google for "run car on water" and 955,000 results show, mainly from people who will sell you the apparatus to make your own gas. Sounds miraculous - where do I sign up? Not so fast - there are several things you'll need to consider first, before you throw away good money for empty promises.

1. Not enough energy in hydrogen. Unfortunately, plain, old gasoline contains more than three times the energy of hydrogen, based on equal volumes. For example, if your car's gas tank holds 20 gallons and you get 20 miles per gallon, you could go 400 miles before your tank ran dry. To go 400 miles on hydrogen, you'd need more than 69 gallons. Of course, you couldn't store this hydrogen (or hydroxy) in your car, as hydrogen is stored under tremendous pressure (very costly and potentially dangerous), so you'd have to manufacture a huge volume of Brown's Gas as you drive. Which leads us to number 2.
2. Not enough electrical capacity in your car to manufacture huge volume of "hydroxy." Although there is a lot of chemistry and physics behind this article, for simplicity's sake, the 12 volt electrical system in your car doesn't have anywhere near enough capacity to power an electrolysis system large enough to run your car continuously on generated gas alone. But, proponents say their generating systems are smaller, designed only to enhance your gas mileage by adding just a few percent worth of the Brown's Gas to the gasoline. Which, advocates say, your car's electrical system will handle. If all works as promised, you'd get better overall gas mileage by burning some Brown's Gas along with gasoline. In reality though, the ability to manufacturing enough of the gas to make a difference is practically non-existent.
3. It takes more energy to generate the Brown's Gas than the energy received when burning it. Although the actual number varies from scientist to scientist, my research has revealed that from 33% to 66% more energy is required in the manufacture, through conventional electrolysis, of the Brown's gas than is gained through burning in your car's engine . If you went so far as to purchase a converter and was able to make enough Brown's gas to at least partially run your car, you'd experience a net decrease in miles per gallon. And, scientists say that any gas that was created would be more efficiently used in a fuel cell, as the electric motors of a fuel cell car are much more efficient than the internal combustion engine.

There are plenty of claims of people getting good results from these "run your car on water" kits, but I've yet to see an actual, controlled laboratory test of one of these set-ups. One "informational" site advises against installing a conversion kit on a new vehicle as "most brand new cars are already quite fuel efficient." Also, by modifying your car to accommodate one of these kits, you may void any warranty on the vehicle. Most internet "info" sites are people with a financial interest in selling you one of these kits of dubious value, or the information to build your own. The facts show that the possibility of running your car on water, and doing so economically is bogus. Buyers: Beware.

Dan Morton is a car enthusiast, author and recovering engineer.

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