In David Mamet's "The Water Engine," an amateur inventor derives an engine that runs on water, with which he plans to become rich and change the world. Too bad he's the only one in the whole play — including the audience — who doesn't know how forces beyond his control will conspire to extinguish his dream. Barring the same fate, a team of scientists from Minnesota University and Weizmann Institute of Science are working up a fuel-cell car that can crack its own hydrogen from a tank of water.
According to New Scientist, the car will be able to produce hydrogen to run the fuel cell via a reaction of boron with water, producing a gas that can either power an internal combustion engine or generate electricity. The only emissions of such a reaction is boron oxide, which can be reconverted back to boron. A prototype could surface by 2009, if no "accidents" happen.
Water Driven Car Might Be Available by 2009 [Hybrid Car News]
Related:
A Perpetual Motion Street Machine: New System for In-Car Hydrogen Production [internal]