The 100% water-powered engine has existed for 50 years now. But a series of events meant that the world never understood the science and potential the engine had to change the world. How different would all our lives be today if the engine wasn’t ignored all those years ago. The story behind the water-powered engine is a captivating one. It begins in Spain, with an inventor named Arturo Estévez Varela. He unveiled a revolutionary engine on his moped that he drove across the country in an attempt to market the new design.
What happened 50 years ago that made the world forget this engine?
The unveiling of the water-powered engine in 1970 by Estévez was followed by a road trip across Spain promoting the new engine on his moped. He would start by appearing in a town square or gathering point for the locals. Drink some water from a jug, then proceed to pour it into the tank on his moped and drive away. An amazing sight that must have been in the 70’s.
Estévez was a keen inventor and had a total of 22 patents filed with the Spanish patent authority. Some of his inventions proved to be hugely successful which gave him not only some financial freedom but also the respect of the engineering world. So when he unveiled the water-powered engine, the world listened. The invention gathered so much attention that the infamous leader of Spain at the time ordered an official inquest.
However, after some investigation, the government and some of the public found some serious issues with his invention. Even more so with his defiance to fully explain how the engine worked. He only mentioned that the engine ran on water and some other secret mineral to produce hydrogen. So it was an internal combustion engine that ran on water. Seems a little too simple.
What exactly was the problem with this water-powered engine?
The problem was the secret mineral that Estévez used to mix with the water to make the hydrogen in the engine. He never revealed what that secret was. And the government went so far as to call the invention a waste of time. What was their findings? Some have theorised that the element may have been boron. Which, in theory, can indeed be mixed with water to create hydrogen.
The problem with that is that boron was and still is very expensive. That may have been what the Spanish government found. That the technology did work, but at a ridiculous cost. After he sold the technology and was subsequently sued for it not working, Estévez was labelled a fraud and disappeared from the public’s eye. The hydrogen internal combustion engine has come along way since then.
While some labelled him a fraud, nowadays views on Estévez and his water-powered engine have changed. Some now consider his early work pioneering in the pursuit of an alternative fuel. Hydrogen is seen as the new fuel of the future after the recent problems the EV has experienced. Will we see Estévez’s engine make a comeback and change the automotive sector? This time successfully?
Is this just the newest example that hydrogen is the way of the future?
After the blowback the Cybertruck experienced and the inevitable recalls, the world is looking for an alternative way to power our future. Has the answer been with us for 50 years already? The world ignored the possibility of a water-powered internal combustion engine and had to face a disastrous few decades of climate change. Estévez saw the potential damage the fossil fuel would have on the planet and devised a secretive way around it. One must ask, if his defiance to reveal his secret ingredient was what kept him alive all those years? We’ve all heard horrible things about the oil industry’s tactics.
