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Hello,
Electrolysis is not very efficient -- it takes a lot more energy to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Sooooo, how can an alternator that is being driven by a engine be gaining any energy? The laws of physics say it must be using more energy to produce the hydrogen, than can be gotten by burning the hydrogen.
One can use (unoxydized**) aluminum to split water -- you end up with hydrogen and aluminum oxide, and this could be used to power a car. But then you have to re-smelt the aluminum, which takes a fair bit of power -- more than you got out.
** Apparently, if you coat the aluminum pellets with gallium, it prevents them from starting to oxidize, and it does not interfere with the reaction with water -- and you can recover it before re-smelting the aluminum. I heard this on Talk of the Nation Science Friday, from a professor at Purdue University, IIRC.
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