Small initial disclaimer, necessary: periodically, news about engines that run on water as fuel appear around the world and on the web. Some inventors claim to have created an engine using water as fuel and which promises to have extraordinary performance, such as traveling long distances with very little water. News that always has its charm, but it is important to take it with a grain of salt and always try to verify it with scientifically reliable sources. To date, it must be said, physics and chemistry do not confirm the possibility of creating an engine that works exclusively with water, without the use of other energy sources.
A Brazilian inventor named Ricardo Azevedo claimed in 2015 that he had created a water engine that would allow you to travel 500 km on just one liter of liquid. The motorcycle, called the T Power H20, would obviously be a huge invention if its performance is confirmed. The old 1993 Honda modified in his garage made him famous across the world: now it remains to be seen for what. The question always is: hoax or revolutionary discovery? Historical statistics, no matter what anyone says, all lean towards the first answer. Also because from the Associated Press coverage (and the Daily Mail) of traces I have not found practically any more.
A water engine for two wheels
How does the T Power H20 “water engine” work? Simple, at least in words. You pour water into the tank, the engine breaks down its molecules into oxygen and hydrogen and uses the latter. So it's a hydrogen engine, everyone stop. What are you saying? The motorcycle is equipped with a car battery that generates electricity and isolates hydrogen via electrolysis. The burning of hydrogen makes the vehicle move. Commenting on his work (which lasted months, he says), the inventor hopes that T Power H20 will give a decisive impulse to the reduction of global pollution. Ambitious, I'd say. Naturally, he declares, the motorbike does not emit polluting gases, only water vapour, and travels (as mentioned) 500 kilometers with just one liter of water.
The expert opinion
For the moment, no one is talking about validating this water engine: as was easy to predict, everyone is very cautious. “Of course, every new invention must be respected even if it seems a little crazy, or comes from DIY,” he commented Marcelo Alves, professor of engineering at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the Euronews video dated 2017 (you can find it at the end of the article). And sure, hydrogen is very abundant and is probably the future of fossil fuels. There is no doubt that the advantage of this motorcycle with its beautiful water engine is the total absence of carbon monoxide.
But is it true? Tell us more. While I'm looking for Azevedo, last summer in Argentina also an 18 year old, santiago herrera, brought out a similar bike (curiously, always a modified Honda). Let's not let him disappear too, fueling the suggestions of those who think that things like this "have existed for a long time", only that "they don't tell us". It would be enough to say "yes, ok, there is half a thing, it works to work, but it is unthinkable to bring it to a large scale": sometimes, the best explanation is the simplest.
