A water-fuelled car is a motor vehicle in which water is the fuel without any other energy output. Hydrogen, from the compound of water, is the fuel in water-fuelled cars. Using the hydrogen for fuel does not make this type of vehicle a steam engine.

Wood or coal is burned to heat up the water in a steam engine. The steam is that which moves the engine due to it being heated. This process makes the coal or wood the fuel source not the water.

Due to water being a waste product, it is hard to convert it into fuel. When petrol (gas), wood or coal is burned, it is converted into a substance with less energy. This process converts unstable bonds into stable bonds.

Water is a very stable bond already. Due to its stability, water resists most reactions. For water to be converted into energy, a high-energy compound must be added.

A high-energy compound like calcium carbine, when added to water, will make the fuel acetylene. This makes the fuel calcium carbine not the water in this case. To make fuel from water the only real way is by electrolysis.

A current of power is sent through the water to separate the bonds; this is electrolysis. Two molecules of hydrogen and one of oxygen make water where the hydrogen molecules are the energy source. To separate this bond, it takes a lot of power.

The hydrogen can be converted at an efficiency of 50-70%. However, it takes a battery to break the bonds of water, therefore this is not considered a water-fuelled car but a battery operated one. Because the battery uses so much energy to break the bonds, there is not enough energy to keep the process moving for very long.

A true water fuelled car has yet to be properly and successfully designed. The first and second laws of thermodynamics have been blocking many inventors dreams of creating a truly water fuelled vehicle. According to these two laws, many vehicles that have been created with the idea that they are water fuelled have been classified as perpetual motion machines.

A true water-fuelled car could possibly be an invention in Japan this year, but it has yet to receive its patent. An invention must have a patent in order to be proved of good quality and marketed. A company gets a patent in order to keep from being copied.

With the intent to get a patent, it is possible that a way to use the abundant resource of water for fuel has truly been found. We, who have been hurt by the rise in the price of petrol, will be able to breathe a little easier if this is true. In the not so distant future, a line of water-fuelled cars will produce a cleaner and cheaper way to get around.

The secret to the Japanese car has not been leaked to other manufacturers yet. They are keeping their invention strictly to themselves. However, they do believe that they will have it patented and ready within the next ten years.