WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Toyota has developed a water-powered car engine.
OUR VERDICT
False. Toyota hasn't built a water-powered car engine.
AAP FACTCHECK - Toyota has not unveiled a car powered by water, despite claims on social media.
The automotive industry giant confirmed it has developed hydrogen-powered vehicles that emit water vapour, but it hasn't built a water-fuelled car engine.
Posts claiming Toyota or other carmakers have developed "water cars" have spread widely on social media recently, garnering tens of millions of views.
One popular Facebook post claims Toyota has unveiled a new car engine that will "destroy" the electric vehicle industry.
"In a move that has sent shockwaves through the global automotive world, Toyota ... has just unveiled a revolutionary water-powered engine," the post's caption reads.
Claims using the same or similar text and images appear in other Facebook posts, with some versions captioned "BYE BYE CHINA" and others "BYE, BYE U.S".
Toyota confirmed to AAP FactCheck that it had not unveiled a water-powered car, but has instead developed hydrogen-powered vehicles that emit water vapour as a by-product.
One such model, the Mirai, which officially launched in 2014, is powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
Toyota's website explains that the Mirai's engine combines hydrogen stored in a fuel tank with air drawn in from outside to generate electricity, which powers the car.
Separately, the manufacturer initiated an Australian pilot program in 2023 to develop a combustion engine fuelled with hydrogen, with water emitted as a by-product.
"These emit water, but are not powered by water," a Toyota spokesperson told AAP FactCheck.
Hussein Dia, a transport expert at Swinburne University, said Toyota's hydrogen vehicles generate electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, not water.
"The claim that Toyota has created a car that 'runs on water' is false," Professor Dia told AAP FactCheck.
"Toyota's hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, such as the Toyota Mirai, are powered by compressed hydrogen gas, not water."
Prof Dia said the fact that those car engines emit water vapour is the "likely source of confusion" leading to false claims that they're powered by water.
Such claims conflict with science, he said, because even though it's possible to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, that process actually "requires more energy than it yields".
"Water is not a fuel - it is the end product of this reaction."
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