Not your father's Oldsmobile and not your mother's electrolysis

Someone sent me a video clip of a fellow in Florida who claims to have developed a means of producing a gas of high energy density (some 12 times that of gasoline) from ordinary water. I thought it a hoax at first, but once I delved into the technology, it seemed reasonable. I remember my high school chemistry, including the process of electrolysis.

This is different - almost exactly the opposite - of how energy is derived from a fuel cell. In that case, elemental hydrogen and oxygen are combined to produce water, heat, and electricity. In this case, water is processed via electricity to produce hydrogen and oxygen, which are then burned as a (proprietary?) gas, for use in welding - or in the internal combustion engines of automobiles.

It doesn't appear a unit has been created capable of generating enough gas on-demand to propel a car by itself. Rather, the systems developed thus far add a boost to an existing gasoline-powered engine. This makes sense - increasing gas mileage would be the initial goal of such a unit - taking a car from 30 mpg to 50 might be a realistic notion. Eventually, we'd all like to see an auto, however undersized, capable of running totally on the technology.