The true story on Hydrogen powering an engine


Can you convert your engine to be powered on Hydrogen and be basically zero emission ?  Technically usually yes, legally possibly no, as it depends on where you and the engine is - and even what year and type it is.  Again technically and versus legally and thus the costs depending on laws where your are.

In the USA it is against Federal Law (the Clean Air Act) [CAA] to tamper with or modify an engine fueling and/or emission control system in any way without a waiver from an EPA authorized governmental agency.  One such agency the federal government usually defers to in terms of the power to enforce the CAA is the  California Air Resources board, [CARB] an arm of the State of California.

No matter what you might want to believe, if ANY device you put on a vehicle tampers with or adjusts the fueling or emission control system in any way - even to get LOWER emissions is not EPA or CARB approved, it is illegal, and the installer, and/or seller could face heavy fines and in some cases jail time.


Hydrogen is an interesting fuel.  It is generally safe at low pressures because it does not tend to easily self ignite.  See for example the science on this at  It is also generally safe because if released into the atmosphere it will rise up and away diffusing itself rapidly.  This is one reason it has been used safely in school and laboratory environments.  It will usually find free Oxygen atoms to bond withy before reaching the edge of the atmosphere to escape.  See for the science on this.  However as engine or other form of burning Hydrogen directly exhaust gases of Hydrogen in the process is converted to simply water vapor and that does not escape.

First some science issues on how much Hydrogen gas might be required.  A four cycle engine theoretically pumps 1/2 of the engine displacement per revolution. Therefore you must use 1/2 of the displacement when calculating Cubic Feet per Minute.  So for a 400 cubic inch engine that is about 231 cubic feet per minute (CFM) it moves at 2000 rpm - which is approximately what it would be at cruising speed on a highway.  So for 14 parts are to 1 part fuel - which is the stoichiometric ratio for gasoline, means you need around 16 cubic feet per minute of gaseous gas fuel to power the engine solely.  For Hydrogen the stoichiometric ratio is approximately 30 to 32 to 1 if the engine is supercharged.  solely powering an engine of that size requires a sizable amount of gaseous gas to run solely on it - but to bi-fuel is a totally different story - and it is thus legal when you do not tamper with the existing emissions control and fueling system

Put another way 300 milliliters per minute (mL/min of flow rate)  Equals 0.01 cubic feet per minute (cu ft/min / flow rate) so the cheapest pure hydrogen PEM generator will not power a vehicle - but the amount of hydrogen it can produce will greatly enrich the fuel to lower the costs per mile.  Look at it this way approximately 240 mL/min of CO2 is exhaled by an average adult at rest so there is no way that exhalation if it were Hydrogen could power a 400 cubic inch engine.even at idle.

Look at it this way - Generally, an idling car uses somewhere between 1/5 to 1/7 gallon of fuel per hour. Compact cars that carry a 2-liter capacity engine burn around 0.16 – 0.3 gallons of gas on per hour basis. A large sedan, on the other hand, with a 4.6-liter engine, burns approximately 0.5 – 0.7 gallons of gas while idling.  A 400 cubic inch engine is 6.5 liters.  How much fuel is consumed is related to the engine size and needs to be metered in any case whether idling or at Wide Open Throttle (WOT).  Thus bi-fueling is the only way to lower costs per mile legally, -- that -- and to keep one's foot out of pushing the accelerator to the floor since one will not have unlimited Hydrogen on tap in an on-demand on board Hydrogen generator system.

Our product falls under the principles allowed of CARB Executive Orders [EO's] for exemption, and there are only eight EO's which allow such a product to be sold,   They are D-643, 634-1, 634-2, 680, 669, 673, 685 and 681.

Our product, unlike most on the market, do not shorten the life of OEM emission control components, and works WITH the OEM system to allow INSANE fuel mileage to be achieved both lawfully and safely for the engine.

We are the only company to truly lawfully and safely bi-fuel an engine on simultaneous fuels at the same time.  How is this important?  Well because, if one of those fuels is FREE, then your cost per mile to operate - also much akin to miles-per-gallon; just went through the MPG true cost of  BTU/weight consumption equation of propelling an object down a flat surface glass ceiling.

That is the TRUE MPG number people are concerned about - operating costs per mile - not some much MPG - because MPG is only a function of cost per gallon of the fuel.

In America, the ONLY lawful way to vend these kind of products is to:
1. Get them working on the vehicle it will be vended for
2. Have them tested under law for increased emissions and OBD interference (there can be NO increased emissions from the OEM level or OBD interference of check engine lights or internal codes thrown - OR change of the OEM emission system OR decrease in reliability of the OEM system)
3. Provide NO interface to the end user that they can tamper with or "re-tune" emissions themselves.
4. Get an EPA waiver and/or CARB EO number to sell the items as a full product for the vehicles it is designed for
5. Distribute the FULL Product for vending in the manner needed to maintain strict compliance to the EPA or EO waiver

NO American automotive parts or items re-seller or distributor or parts store or mechanic can - or will take - a non-EPA or CARB EO'ed product for sale or installation

Few foreign companies can get EPA or EO waivers. We are the ONLY American company who does products as OEM parts - LAWFULLY

This is what we do.

Everyone wants to claim there is a great conspiracy to prevent Hydrogen use in an Internal combustion engine as a wide spread motor fuel. It is not so - it is a logistics nightmare of safety, design, balance of use and proportion to potable water for consumption of animal and plant life on the planet.

This is not true as in California at least Hydrogen has a specification to e used as a motor fuel   It is found at the California Code of Regulations 2292.7.  see or at note that the main requirement is one for safety  requiring "Starting 1/1/95, the hydrogen fuel at ambient conditions must have a distinctive odor potent enough for its presence to be detected down to a concentration in air of not over 1/5 (one-fifth) of the lower limit of flammability. This requirement applies only to hydrogen which is introduced into the vehicle fuel storage system in gaseous form." and thus that also to be called "Hydrogen" it cannot contain total hydrocarbons of more than 0.01 mole %.   In short it cannot be a pollutant fuel in any way - because a fuel that does not contain Carbon cannot produce CO2 when it burns.

Please note the above specs EXCLUDE any ability to call "HHO" - Hydrogen

First, putting that above aside, you need to get enough of the gas to feed the engine for the size. Second, since it's best ratio is around 32 to1, you need to pack enough air in to get a good bang for the buck. Third, since Hydrogen is such a small diatomic atom, it can get right past the compression rings and collect in the crankcase, where it won't explode, it will just light the oil spray in the engine on fire. That is not a problem in any dangerous way, it just leaves a coke pile in the lifter valley eventually. Fourth to make enough Hydrogen to power a Chevy 350 the Hydrogen generator needed is sizable. That would be quite a bit of DC power needed to make that much gas per minute, and that does not mention the speed of the water-based fuel stock consumption that needs to happen to to make it all keep going. Finally since when Hydrogen burns it turns back to water vapor, - steam - you need an extra hot spark and extra tough spark plug and ignition system to take that kind of hot spark. (A major spark plug manufacturer has patented one by the way)

Since this is the only fuel that can be re-used, one must minimize fuel loss by recapturing it. Sounds crazy to most of you - because you do not think like HYDROGEN BURNS - back to water. The other two issues are condensation at the right temperature near a road surface by a road-full of cars; that would create a fog trail, and black ice creation in sub-freezing environment from water dripping from exhaust pipes. The biggest question is to how much of that water based liquid depletes liquid levels of the worlds bodies of water. Previously the Earth had huge reserves of ice-packs at the polar regions - and they are melting now and the seas are rising - so putting a lot of it in fuel tanks would help with the mechanical issue of rising seas; however the temperature of the seas is what largely controls the weather.

Mankind just does not know enough (or wants to believe the reality of any greenhouse effect caused by Carbon Dioxide) to even begin to wonder how fast any abrupt down turn in fossil fuel burning will impact the planet that would tend to go more Oxygen-Rich and pollutant free.

One thing is for sure, without comprehensive - SMART laws to address the use of any water based liquid as a fuel, mankind will head to catastrophe and even - yes - War faster than anyone or any Bovine can pass gas.

Putting all that aside for a moment, our sensor technology we now use to control engines, is decidedly carbon based. That is the sensors measure exhaust gases expecting carbon to be a component as a standard of the exhaust to use to measure. While a wide band oxygen sensor can measure the exhaust gases from a more pure Hydrogen burning engine, it needs an exhaust gas temperature probe to do so accurately, and there lies a major rub - an accurate exhaust gas temperature reading system in a wide and varied ambient temperature which will cause the exhaust gas to fluctuate widely.

Without explaining how, needless to say we have considered all of this. It ain't rocket science, but it is harder than you think.

We can do it . . .  so buy the least amount item to create an account like our Gashole Plugged video and leave a note in the notes section to contact you about converting whatever it is you seek to convert.  we will respond with an overview of the technical and legal issues. you can expect for your location you might face. See


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