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A car company based in central China claimed it has built a hydrogen-powered vehicle that could travel up to 500 kilometres powered only by water.

The prototype made by Qingnian Cars in Nanyang, a city in Henan province, made its maiden journey on Wednesday when local Communist Party chiefs visited the plant, according to the Nanyang Daily newspaper.

The vehicle is not known to have been tested over longer distances, but Pang Qingnian, chief executive of the company, told Securities Times that it would be capable of travelling between 300 to 500 kilometres powered by 300-400 litres of water.

“The cost [of research and development] is a trade secret that I cannot reveal,” Pang later told Thepaper.cn. “We achieved this at a low cost, this is our company’s technology.”

Pang explained that its engine ran on hydrogen produced by a chemical reaction when a catalyst is applied to a mixture of aluminium powder and water.