Water-Powered Cars by 2009? Maybe

Cars running on water? Here's another group of scientists who say yes, it's possible. Researchers from the University of Minnesota and Israel's Weizman Institute of Science have figured out a way to use the element Boron to coax water into producing hydrogen gas. That, of course, is quite flammable and can be used to power an internal combustion engine or a fuel cell. And the only emission? Boron Oxide, which can be converted back into Boron and used again.

We've heard things like this before, to a hail of incredulous comments and cries of "bullshit!". We've also heard of a guy in Australia who actually showed his water-powered scooter running on Australian TV but wouldn't reveal how it was done. And here it is again, and now they're saying we'll see a prototype by 2009. This seems too good to be true. Will the oil companies buy this out and kill it? Is this another fable, a la David Mamet's The Water Engine?

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Well in the comments MattP said:

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So it's a boron powered car, right?

To replace 40 liters (about 30 kilos) of gasoline, we'll need 45 liters (45 kilos) of water, and 18 kilos of boron. Presumably, both will be needed to be replaced each time you need a 'refuel'.

Pure boron (according to Wikipedia) was about $5 a gram in 1997, so we're looking at a $90,000 fill up. How is this an improvement?

This isn't even considering that converting boron oxide back to pure boron will take additional energy.

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so its more a proof of concept than a usable car

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Originally Posted by wraggster

Cars running on water? Here's another group of scientists who say yes, it's possible. Researchers from the University of Minnesota and Israel's Weizman Institute of Science have figured out a way to use the element Boron to coax water into producing hydrogen gas. That, of course, is quite flammable and can be used to power an internal combustion engine or a fuel cell. And the only emission? Boron Oxide, which can be converted back into Boron and used again.

We've heard things like this before, to a hail of incredulous comments and cries of "bullshit!". We've also heard of a guy in Australia who actually showed his water-powered scooter running on Australian TV but wouldn't reveal how it was done. And here it is again, and now they're saying we'll see a prototype by 2009. This seems too good to be true. Will the oil companies buy this out and kill it? Is this another fable, a la David Mamet's The Water Engine?

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I don't think there will ever be an alternative as oil companies will either offer to buy them out or the inventors will "disappear" if you know what I mean. ;)

"So theres this car that runs on water man, but the government won't let us have it and GM has bribed the inventor"