Water-Fuelled Car - Pakistani makes Car Run on Water - Facts Analysis

Story:

A Pakistani scientist has built a car that runs on water as fuel, a feat that left onlookers astounded. Engineer Waqar Ahmad is the Pakistani scientist who drove his car using water as fuel Thursday during a demonstration for parliamentarians, scientists and students, Dawn reported from this Pakistan capital.

He said cars could be driven by a system fuelled by water instead of petrol or CNG.

The onlookers were taken aback when they saw it and a cabinet sub-committee lauded the ‘Water Fuel Kit Project’.

Analysis:

It is a fact that in July 2012, a Pakistani mechanical engineer and scientist, Agha Waqar Ahmad by name, claimed to have developed a ‘water kit’ in his car that makes it run on water without using any other fuel. Driving his own car, he demonstrated his ‘miracle invention’ of water-fuel for car. The scientist claims that the “water kit” can be installed in all kinds of automobiles and can be used as an alternative fuel. Post this claim, the scientist also got some support from the Pakistan media and government.

The Pakistani scientist explains that his water fuelling system is a technology in which hydrogen bonding with distilled water can produce hydrogen gas that can run the car. His ‘water kit’ consists of a cylindrical jar to hold the water, a bubbler and a pipe leading to the car engine. He claims that the water kit uses electrolysis to convert the distilled water(H2O) into “HHO” gas (Oxyhydrogen), which is then utilized as fuel. Ahmed also claims that he has been successful in achieving much higher amounts of oxyhydrogen compared to any other inventor because of his “undisclosed calculations”. You can find the details of his ‘water kit’ invention in the reference section.

However, there has been much criticism about his claim and invention, both from scientists within the country and around the world. Many scientists believe that his invention is a fraud, and the claim is a hoax, because it violates the second law of thermodynamics, that perpetual motion machines are impossible. This means to say that the energy generated by breaking water into oxyhydrogen can not sustain itself, losing its energy with time, and therefore, it can not act as a lasting fuel to run the car. Also, the scientist could not explain the details of his invention clearly. The only specimen of this Pakistani scientist’s invention about car run on water fuel so far is the one fitted in his own car. On August 11 2012, when his car was to be fully inspected by engineers at the National University of Science & Technology, Ahmed never showed up for the appointment. On August 6 2012, when he was challenged to demonstrate his kit puiblicly, he did not turn up, even though he accepted the challenge earlier. You can find the summary of the criticism about his invention and his response to it here.

As of now, Agha Waqar Ahmad has applied for a patent in Pakistan, and a technical examination of his water kit invention, planned at the highest levels of government, has been delayed indefinitely.

There have been several attempts and claims in the past to use water as fuel in cars, all of which have turned out to be unsuccessful. You can find a list of those claims here. But there exists the technology of HHO kits that turn your car into a hybrid one and make it more fuel efficient, be it gasoline, diesel or even propane. The HHO gas (sometimes called brown gas), formed as a result of electrolyis of water, is carried through the car’s engine into the air intake system, where it can unite with the regular fuel. This also reduces the harmful emissions of the regular fuel, but again, there are certain risks associated with hydrogen gas build up, especially its flammability. Read the risks of using HHO kits here.