An Australian-Israeli startup says it has found a way to use water to power fuel-cell vehicles.

Electriq-Global, formerly known as Terragenic, has developed a fuel that comprises 60% water. The company says its technology extracts hydrogen from the water-based fuel, which is then harnessed to power the vehicle.

While hydrogen has, in the past, been debated as a safe solution to counter global warming, those claims were dependent on the costly and dangerous exercise of compressing the gas to extreme pressures, states Electriq-Global CEO Guy Michrowski.

“Our system releases hydrogen on demand from the fuel. When the fuel comes into contact with the catalyst, the reaction releases hydrogen that feeds the fuel-cell, creating electricity to power the vehicle. Our fuel is safe, economical, and recyclable. We even take the old depleted fuel and add more hydrogen back in, producing new fuel that can be used again and again,” Michrowski tells Engineering News Online.

The Electriq-Global system contains three key elements: the liquid fuel (Electriq-Fuel), which reacts with a catalyst (Electriq-Switch), to release hydrogen on demand, with the spent fuel then captured and taken back to a plant where it is replenished with hydrogen and water for re-use (Electriq-Recycling).

Refueling happens in exactly the same way as with petrol, notes Michrowski.

“The driver will use an Electriq-Fuel pump at a conventional refueling station. The refueling time is the same as with conventional fuel.”

The fuel price will be half that of petrol,” adds Michrowski.

“There are two key reasons for this – half of the hydrogen is produced from the water in the fuel, as well as the fact that we recycle the fuel in a cost-efficient process.

“The other critical component of the fuel is salt named BH4, traditionally used in the pharmaceutical industry.”

This entire process enables zero-emission vehicles, says Michrowski.

When compared with green energy competitors like lithium-ion batteries or compressed hydrogen technologies, Electriq-Global achieves twice the range at half the cost, he claims.

The energy density is also up to 15 times that of electric batteries currently in use in vehicles like those of Tesla.

A comparison of electric buses show the buses powered by batteries providing a range of 250 km and requiring up to 300 minutes to recharge, whereas buses to be powered by Electriq-Fuel will provide a range of 1 000 km, with refuelling possible in five minutes, believes Michrowski.

“Our technology brings dramatic improvements in driving range, refuelling time and cost of fuel, changing the rules of the game in many fields.”

Michrowski says Electriq-Global is currently taking the technology to market. 

“We are already in collaboration with [vehicle manufacturers] and oil and gas companies to build our first vehicle demonstrations and recycling pilot plant.”