A Hamilton company which has spent a lot of money developing on-demand
hydrogen generators today denounced the
technology as a fraud.
Michael Fresnel, co-founder of OctaFuel New Zealand, made the admission in a
statement today, two days before a Hamilton motoring writer, Eric Otoka, was
planning to disclose results of his trial of the OctaFuel hydrogen fuel system
designed to reduce petrol consumption.
Otoka was going to go public in his Loose Nut column in Waikato Times motoring
section on Thursday, and say his trial found the generators did not work.
But Mr Fresnel said today his company now "believes the technology is a fraud,
and advises New Zealanders to avoid spending money online buying on-board
hydrogen generators and instruction manuals on how to build them".
He said OctaFuel had been persuaded the technology was genuine because of a
number of international studies supporting it.
"It came as a shock to discover that the technology did not save fuel," he said.
"No one likes getting the wool pulled over their eyes."
The experience had been humbling, but going public was the right thing to do,
"despite the embarrassment factor", he said.
OctaFuel spent three months work and about $100,000 on the development of an
on-demand hydrogen unit, contracting a mechanical engineer with more than 25
years' experience and a reputable electronics company to undertake the research,
development and manufacture of the technology.