Comments on: Project promises water-fueled hydrogen car by 2009

By: jimothy

jimothy — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 21:04:03 +0000

So will gas stations sell three grades: Tap, Dasani, and Evian?

By: x23

x23 — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 05:06:03 +0000

” Granted you don’t need 99% pure to get the H2O +B -> h2 + BO reaction to work, but the process of getting boron oxide into it’s base elements is not that easy.”

BO?!?!

This is beyond B.O. This is B.B.O. Usually the O stays with the B. Once the B is gone the O leaves with it.

By: Onur

Onur — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 03:10:41 +0000

Awesome. I was wondering when they could come up with something to kill people for other than oil. And this time it’s a lot more important. When it’s finished everything will die, not only machines.

By: Dav

Dav — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 01:56:38 +0000

by that price estimate, the more pure crystaline boron would cost $90,000 just for the fuel. better last a while. and then there is the rest of the power supply, and the car itself. not yet practical. neither is ethenol, nor electricity, even though it is the best so far. keep working at it boys.

By: Marshall

Marshall — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 19:43:41 +0000

Who cares? By the time anything really bad happens, most of us will be dead.. To be fair Methanol powered cars would be good, then we could all drive street-legal top fueler drag cars :D:D

By: VDub

VDub — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 19:35:32 +0000

oil lobbyist will get republican congresspersons to kill it.

By: Wickedated

Wickedated — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 19:34:58 +0000

At $2 a gram, having 18 kg of Boron in the car would cost $36,000.00 ….

By: The Stig

The Stig — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 19:33:12 +0000

I don’t care if the fuel of the future comes from a hole in the driver’s seat and a fill-up at the local taco stand.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 19:06:44 +0000

sorry, meant to say that price quote was from wikipedia

By: Kyle

Kyle — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 18:59:40 +0000

In 1997 crystalline boron (99% pure) cost about US$5 per gram and amorphous boron cost about US$2 per gram.

hmm, 18KG sounds expensive now. Granted you don’t need 99% pure to get the H2O +B -> h2 + BO reaction to work, but the process of getting boron oxide into it’s base elements is not that easy.

By: axel cortez

axel cortez — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 18:38:50 +0000

i just want my car makes nice HP/torque i dont care if load it with trash

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 18:28:00 +0000

Wickedated, Boron is not toxic. The boron compound borax is widely used in laundry detergent. Although banned in the USA, many countries use boron in food preparation.

As a general proposition, this is a fantastic development. Using boron to generate hydrogen from water seems to be a much better option than using alcohol as a motor fuel. However, we must keep in mind that boron will have to be reduced from compounds, including boron oxide produced during hydrogen generation. External energy sources will be required reduce boron. We need to ensure that the external energy is not produced from carbon sources.

By: jay

jay — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 17:50:17 +0000

Hey did “who killed the electric car” come out yet?
Yeah right they’ve been promising stuff like this for some time now. They’ll probably delay it and delay it and shut down the program because of costs or something.
I would still like to see hydrogen cars out though. As long as it would make enough power and was not a ticking time bomb I would consider one.

By: Wickedated

Wickedated — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 16:54:52 +0000

18kg of Boron in my car? Thats like having 18 kilo bags of sugar stored in the car. Isnt boron toxic anyhow?

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 16:46:54 +0000

One would hope there is enough momentum to keep truthful announcements on hydrogen fuel out in the open, even if the big oil companies still manage to keep it from reaching the market.

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 16:31:12 +0000

I’m sure big oil has already bought out the patents to this technology and has them stored away safely in their vaults until they drill the earth dry of oil. Then, the next day, they can release these technologies and continue to rake in billions and trillions.

By: kyle

kyle — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 16:27:24 +0000

heh, if only a catalyst existed that could split water into component h2 and o2 gasses without going under chemical change itself! Then again, if a container of that stuff where to spill… that’d be bad.