Hydrogen fuel-economy

**Epaphras** · 02-17-2009, 03:28 PM

Is this legit?

I saw it on the news the other day. The customer claimed to get a 33% increase on his Yukon with this thing installed. 18 to 24mpg.

I costed it out and if it's legit then the $600 installation definitely pays for itself in as little as three months (assuming a base mpg of 18, 50K annual miles, and gas at $3.90 a gallon). But, a car with 21mpg base (up to 24 with the unit) driving the average 15K annual miles at today's gas prices of $1.84/gallon pays for itself in...19 months. Big whoop. So if you're driving shore-to-shore in an F-150 in last July's gas price environment then I guess it's worth it.

Basically it looks like it just adds a bit of HHO (gas form of water, non-steam) to the fuel mix raising the octane and thus the efficiency and fuel economy. It doesn't "run on water", it's more or less a do-it-yourself fuel additive.

Anyone toyed around with HHO units?

***Pauler*** · 02-17-2009, 04:03 PM

there is a lot of debate about this. personally, i think it could work. a company in austin, tx is producing cars that use this tech.

http://jalopnik.com/5077574/ronn-mot...debuts-at-sema

**redbaron** · 02-17-2009, 04:27 PM

In this thread, we will obey the laws of thermodynamics! [/homer]

Assuming that we get a pretty good efficiency (say 70%) converting the water to hydrogen, we need to determine how much of the energy from the engine it requires to do that work, and then how much energy the hydrogen actually replaces.

Given that the laws of thermodynamics state that there are no such things as free energy sources, and hydrogen is really more of an energy battery than an energy source...

If you do some searching about hydrogen injection, you'll find a lot of people making big claims as they sell these devices for $500-1500 and very few people getting the claimed savings.

caveat emptor

**Epaphras** · 02-17-2009, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redbaron

caveat emptor

"Buyer Beware" indeed.

How do you argue with a six-point increase in fuel economy though? Assuming no change in driving habits, that's proof, if only anecdotal. Could it be that it doesn't work on paper but works in real life?

Of course, that kind of increase would have to be thoroughly and scientifically tested by an independent party, not Joe the Plumber keeping track of his mileage after buying a new gadget.

mattslope · 02-18-2009, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epaphras

"Buyer Beware" indeed.

How do you argue with a six-point increase in fuel economy though? Assuming no change in driving habits, that's proof, if only anecdotal. Could it be that it doesn't work on paper but works in real life?

Of course, that kind of increase would have to be thoroughly and scientifically tested by an independent party, not Joe the Plumber keeping track of his mileage after buying a new gadget.

A fellow at my home church installed a hydrogen kit on his Civic VX (mid-nineties hatch) and only experienced a measurable increase in fuel economy once. Anecdote? Absolutely. Scientific? Not until he can repeat it.