---
title: "Startup Claims It Could Power Your Car on Just Alcohol and Water"
description: "A startup called MayMaan Research claims it has developed a system that allows an engine to run on an alt-fuel comprising just water and alcohol."
date: "2019-10-23"
modified: "2019-10-23"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/startup-alt-fuel-car-alcohol-water"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "alt-fuel"
  - "hydrogen power"
  - "maymaan research"
---

# Startup Claims It Could Power Your Car on Just Alcohol and Water

![A startup called MayMaan Research claims it has developed a system that allows an engine to run on an alt-fuel comprising just water and alcohol.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/startup-alt-fule-alcohol-water.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: MayMaan Research\</em\>*

An 81-year-old man and his two sons claim they've developed a system in their garage that allows a diesel or gasoline engine to run on a mix of water and alcohol — no fossil fuel required.

If that sounds too good to be true, well, that's because it probably is.

A new *Jerusalem Post* [story](<https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-develops-piston-engine-that-runs-on-water-alcohol-no-gas-605425>) highlights the company the trio formed, MayMaan Research, and after six years of under-the-radar development, father Yehuda Shmueli says the system he and his sons created is now ready for action.

"\[W\]e decided that this is the right time to expose ourselves and talk to people and let the world know that such a solution exists," he told *The* *Jerusalem Post.*

MayMaan's website claims the system takes an alt-fuel made of 70 percent water and 30 percent alcohol, such as ethanol, and converts it into "a powerful and clean-burning fuel within the engine's combustion chamber."

MayMaan's team told *The Jerusalem Post* that existing engine designs can be converted to work with this fuel through "simple yet sophisticated modifications" and that their fuel can be pumped into a vehicle just like you would gasoline.

The fuel then supposedly powers a vehicle 60 percent more efficiently than gasoline at half the cost and with half the emissions.

As exciting as this system sounds, both *The Jerusalem Post* story and the company's website are extremely light on technical details.

A look at a recently assigned [patent](<https://patents.justia.com/assignee/maymaan-research-llc>) for the system, meanwhile, notes that "the combustion chamber receives a mixture of air, hydrogen, and a liquid fuel consisting essentially of water and a flammable, preferably non-fossil, substance."

That's a few more ingredients than MayMaan mentions in the story, so the team might need to head back into the garage for a bit more development before touting their tech as the cleaner, cheaper, more efficient alt-fuel of the future.

**READ MORE:** [Israeli Develops Piston Engine That Runs on Water, Alcohol – No Gas](<https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-develops-piston-engine-that-runs-on-water-alcohol-no-gas-605425>) \[*The Jerusalem Post*\]

**More on hydrogen power:** *[Hydrogen Fuel Cell Flying Car Has a Range of 400 Miles](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hydrogen-fuel-cell-flying-car>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)