Running a Car on an Unusual Alternative Fuel

By Anastacia Mott Austin

First there was the hybrid car. Part fuel combustion engine, part electric battery. It improves gas mileage and is better for the environment.

Sales of hybrid cars are through the roof, spurred by rising gas prices and an increase in the public’s need to leave a smaller carbon footprint. Many major auto manufacturers offer a hybrid variety or are in the process of developing one.

But that wasn’t enough for some. Anyone who has seen the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" has been wondering what the hold up is on the all-electric car.

Though GM "killed" the EV1 electric car shown in the movie, the company is hard at work developing the Chevy Volt, an all-electric car (with gas hybrid option) that will supposedly be available to the public around 2010. In addition, several well-known auto companies have electric prototypes in the works, and numerous smaller start-up companies are developing electric cars that are on the market already or will be soon.

Some savvy hackers have already converted their Toyota Prius hybrids into plug-in versions, meaning they run almost entirely on electric power.

So why stop there? With fuel prices and pollution at dangerous levels, necessity has indeed spawned some strange inventions. Creative thinkers have pondered what seems to be in abundance – at least for now – and come up with fuel solutions that use little to no fossil fuels and produce no emissions.

Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) has contracted to manufacture the first air-powered car for distribution in the United States by late 2009 or early 2010. Yep, air.

Similar in concept to the two-seater model that will soon be marketed in India, ZPM has a larger, six-seat version of the air-powered car in mind for the United States.

The air car employs compressed air as its fuel source, similar to Airbus airplanes, along with a heating process which increases the volume of the air, and thus the speed of the car.

Company representatives say that the car could go as far as 1,000 miles and up to 96 mph on each fill-up of air, and produces zero emissions. Plus, their estimate on the cost is about $17,800. Sweet.

It still needs to undergo further development and testing, but ZPM says we can count on the air car as another alternative to the gas-guzzling polluters we’re tooling around in now.

If we can make a car that runs on air, what about water?

Japan’s Genepax company announced last month that it had developed technology to enable a car to run on water…any kind of water.

Its Water Energy System uses a secret "membrane electrode assembly" method that apparently breaks water down into hydrogen and oxygen through a chemical process.

Another entrepreneur claims he can make a car run on salt water, and has the Youtube video to prove it.

A little searching on the Net will locate several websites willing to sell you an instruction manual explaining how to convert your own car into a water-sipping wonder car. I don’t know if it works, I didn’t buy the kit.

To answer the concerns of folks who say that water is the new oil, and soon we will be more worried about water availability and cost than gas, Genepax says that their water car can run on any kind of water: spring water, sea water, rain water, wastewater, recycled water.

Wastewater? "Recycled" water? Does that mean what I think it does? That would truly be a resourceful use of ah, recycled water…something along the lines of "Waterworld," where Kevin Costner uses a handy little device that converts his own urine back into drinkable water.

I don’t know about drinking it, but think of the environmental savings in being able to use your "wastewater" to fuel your car. Save on gas and plumbing at the same time!

The only remaining dilemma would be what to call such a wondrous vehicle.

The Pee-us Hybrid?