Japanese company creates eco-friendly car that uses water as fuel!

Japanese company creates eco-friendly car that uses water as fuel!Tuesday June 17 2008 14:51 IST ANI

WASHINGTON: Japanese company, Genepax has claimed that it has created a new eco-friendly car that can run on nothing but water.

The company said that a proprietary unit, a type of membrane electrode assembly (MEA), breaks water apart into hydrogen and oxygen using a chemical reaction, which provides fuel for a hydrogen fuel cell to run the car.

Genepax said that power is generated by its Water Energy System (WES) by supplying water and air to the fuel and air electrodes, the system being similar to that of a standard fuel cell.

While the company did not disclose much, its president claimed that they had “succeeded in adopting a well-known process to produce hydrogen from water to the MEA”, Environmental News Network reported.

He also said that the mechanism was similar to the method in which hydrogen is produced by a reaction of metal hydride and water.

But, Genepax insists that the new process produces hydrogen from water for a longer time than the existing method.

The company uncovered a fuel cell stack with a rated output of 120W and a fuel cell system with a rated output of 300W. The 300W system is an active system, which supplies water and air with a pump.

While showcasing the cell system, they successfully powered the TV and the lighting equipment with a lead-acid battery charged by using the system.

And then, they mounted the 300W system in the luggage room of a compact electric vehicle “Reva” manufactured by Takeoka Mini Car Products Co Ltd, and the vehicle was successfully driven by the system.

Now, Genepax is planning to provide 1kw-class generation systems for use in electric vehicles and for residential applications.

While the current production cost is about 18,522 US Dollars, it is estimated to be reduced to 5000 US Dollars and even lower if the company succeeds in mass production.