Water-Powered Car Saga
Last month, we wrote about the Genepax ‘Water Car’ and were surprised by how many people were ready to believe that it truly worked with water as the only fuel without special explanation or evidence from those who make the claim. Right now the post has 124 comments, which is higher than average for TreeHugger, and a significant portion of those talk about rewriting the laws of physics and such.
A Question for ‘Water Car’ True Believers
But there’s a question we’d like to ask those who are so certain that ‘water cars’ (with water as the only fuel, and not as an energy carrier via hydrogen) already work and are somehow kept hidden: If some people had that technology, why would cars be the first thing they try to make? That’s hard, with huge supply chains and massive capital investments, lots of regulations and red tape, etc. Why not make power plants right next to rivers (or just use tap water) and sell the power?
They could start very small (less than 1 megawatt) to show that it works. That would be much more profitable, no? Or even sell the technology to makers of portable electronics, which don’t have vested interests in oil and cars.
So why aren’t we hearing about ‘water power plants’ (other than hydro), or ‘water powered laptops’? It’s always ‘water cars’, and mostly when gas prices are up. Could it be that it’s just a really nice story that strikes the imagination (the image of pouring water in a fuel tank is powerful), the way many urban legends do?
Genepax Water-Powered Car photo
Conclusion on Water Cars
We’ll conclude this post the same way we concluded the Genepax post: “As Carl Sagan used to say, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The next time you hear about a water car, remember that and don’t get your hopes up too quickly.”
We’d be the first to be overjoyed if it really worked (we’re not against the idea), but before we jump around, we’ll need some serious evidence and not just PR stunts that don’t really explain anything (and that are probably designed to lure investors).
Water Cars
Genepax Water Car: Too Good to be True? Yeah
Survey: Can a Car Run on Water?
Photo by Scott Armitage.
The Free 