Why hasn't the carmakers gone with the technology to turn water into gas?

Haven't you heard?? There is a water shortage
Why hasn't the carmakers gone with the technology to turn water into gas?
First of all this technology will not work on cars or everyone would have it. Second the oil companies would buy the patient to it so the would not have any competition.
Why hasn't the carmakers gone with the technology to turn water into gas?
The Earth is 77% water. You need to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen. When you burn the Hydrogen you get... guess what... WATER.
Reply:Honda actually has, they came out with a car called the FCX Clarity (http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity... and it comes out in the Summer of 2008 but it is only comming to certain cities in So-Cal because you need Hydrogen fuel stations to refuel it. There has been other prototypes of fuel cell cars but they have never been mass produced. Honda is taking a big step into this unknown market which hopefully every other car manufacterer will do too.
Reply:First of all it would cost them a lot of extra money! Second the "horsepower lovers" would not be happy with the acceleration! Third So far "total water units" are too expensive, and not totally perfected yet! 4th, - water is too cheap and too readily available, government not pushing it tilll they can figure out how to tax it!





Ever think about everybody running down to the river and scooping out all the "gas" for free, leaving nothing for the fish to swim around in??





Haven't you heard,- if water were just discovered today the US "food %26amp; drug admimistration" would not approve it because it is dangerous,- and too hard to control! Not only do people drown in it, but there is a shortage of it because of "global warming" - all the glaciers are meting and now there is not enough available anymore??
Reply:It depends on which version of the "water to gas" technology you're talking about.





If you're talking about the setup where electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen that is then stored in tanks and used to fill hydrogen-powered vehicles then there are efficiency problems to contend with. Even the best electrolysis system is only about 65 percent efficient and that means a *lot* of power is wasted.





Hydrogen is usually produced by a process called "cracking" whereby more complex hydrogarbons (such as natural gas) are broken apart by catalysts and heat and the hydrogen component is then compressed or liquified and transported to the distribution points.





It costs a lot less to produce hydrogen by cracking than it does by electrolysis so the only benefit that electrolysis has is that in some cases it may be more convenient than transporting large amounts of pressurized/liquified H2 gas.





If you're talking about those HHO generators that you see people selling on the internet then that's not being used by automakers because it simply doesn't work. It's simply a scam -- nothing more.