hydropower?

[akilli89]

anyone know much about? I know a mechanic who wants to try it on my car but I'm a bit unsure. I've done some small research and it seems it would help, but hydrogen is very explosive and doesn't seem as safe/secure as the gas and fuel system already is. I know gas is very explosive too. something about 9 metal plates with water dumped in and electricity to make oxygen and hydrogen separate just seems too uncertain.

[o4aveohb]

tried on mythbusters, didnt work.

EDIT:At least the cheap and reasonable version didnt work

[Ron-E-Babe]

my buddy works for GM in their Hydrogen fuel center and tells me, "When you get down to it...you are trying to burn water. It's too expensive to be considered a realistic alternative fuel."

[mtlswift]

^^ yup... you have to electrolyze water to get hydrogen and oxygen, which isn't 100% efficient, and then you have to burn the hydrogen, which regenerates water, which again isn't 100% efficient.
Say you're lucky to get 70% efficiency in each step, you end up losing half the energy you've put in the first place.

The problem is that fossil fuels are so "cheap" compared to everything else because it requires relatively little processing to give high energy. It's already in a state ready to burn, unlike something like corn-derived ethanol that requires so much processing to get it to a usable form.

[master_daewoo]

The idea has been around for over a decade. Your mechanic is most likely talking about HHO gas. Just google hho. Some devices work a small margine to increase mpg, but most items are junk and use more power then what it makes. Its basicly a little device hooked to your battery running 15 amps extracting hydrogen from water using white vinegar as an electrolyte and feeding the hydrogen into your intake. Thus make a more effiecent burn and uses less gas to go.

[akilli89]

I watched some vids about HHO, it seems the most legitimate and hopefully it will be extremely efficient.

[mikedudley17]

just drive concientously. if you want to tune for more gas mileage, save your money and buy a neo. i dont wanna say what my speculations are right now as to the gas mileage im getting, but for both city and hwy combined, im safe to say its very good right now. trust me, if you wanna tune for good mileage a neo is very useful, and of course common sense. arg, i just hate drivin slow.