Did you know that the automotive industry today has engines that run on water? Arturo Estévez Valera created a technology that could change this industry forever.
As an alternative to fossil fuels, much has been said about electric mechanics and options that run on hydrogen, right? In the latter case, this technology has not been standardized due to lack of infrastructure and the presence of some other danger with storage tanks. Even so, in the middle of the last century, a certain Arturo Estévez Valera already ‘created’ the engine that ran simply with water.
This Spanish engineer spent part of his life creating all kinds of gadgets. One of those that created the most excitement was the engine that ran on water. He went around Spain bringing together populations to show how using water it was possible to get performance out of a motorcycle engine. Representations of his feat even reached Francisco Franco’s work team. Born in Extremadura, He became one of the people who could change the industry of the automobile forever.
The engine that ran on water and, however, ended up failing
Who would have thought that in the middle of the oil crisis there would be an invention that had the use of water as its main element As fuel? At that time, it even appeared in the Regime’s favorite media outlet, NO-DO. Estévez resorted to a simple methodology every time he arrived in a new town. He would gather the neighbors and take a drink from a jug to demonstrate that it was water without any additives. After that, he put the rest into the motorcycle’s fuel tank.
He then started the vehicle and disappeared from the scene. He repeated this over and over again, until he gained media attention. Franco came to create a committee of experts to analyze what was happening. After an investigation, it was concluded that it was a mixture that took place inside the tank. The other hidden ingredient was boron. The project was abandoned as it was considered that this material was very expensive on the market and, therefore, unviable in economic terms.
Estévez always claimed that the secret ingredient was not boron. Other studies that were carried out later They focused on ferrosilicon. Its conjunction with water produced an oxidation that culminated in obtaining hydrogen. This, however, has not been known for certain either. Be that as it may, the truth is that the invention ended up being sold, making the protagonist a millionaire.
The automobile industry, however, has demonstrated on several occasions how the standardization of options based on the hydrogen fuel cell still seems to be unfeasible. Currently, there are some residual models that have this energy source, but the truth is that they fail to achieve sufficient sales figures to amortize the investments made. Will it be the fuel of the future? The lack of autonomy of battery electric cars gives them a small chance of success in the coming years.