Yehuda Shmueli is a talented 81-year-old inventor; engineer; master mechanic; and the brainchild of MayMaan Research, LLC. He works alongside his sons Eitan and Doron, and as a team, they are working to revolutionize the world of transportation, by reinventing our source of fuel.
Eitan explains how his father’s startup came to fruition. When Yehuda was a young boy in Israel, he lived through the wars caused by greed for oil. He realized from a young age that if our dependence for oil could be eliminated or reduced, that these problems and wars could potentially end.
Just as corporate giants such as Apple, Google, and Hewlett-Packard began in small workshops, close by to their creator’s homes. If what MayMaan has created is true, they may soon join the ranks of successful garage-based start-ups.
While they’ve since grown into a research laboratory facility, at heart – they remain as a start-up in spirit. Yehuda and his sons are guided by their executive management team, which included Joe Nakash, founder and chairman of Jordache Enterprises; Yedidya Ya’ari, company chairman and former president and CEO of Israel’s Rafael Armament Development Authority; and Malcolm Hoenlein, CEO and executive vice-chairman of the Conference of Presidents.
This company was advised by one of their executive managers to stay under the radar, ‘in stealth mode’, until their product was fully developed.
Yehuda says “We have stayed under the radar for the past six years, but have decided that now is the right time to expose ourselves, talk to people, and let the world know that a solution exists”.
MayMaan claims to have developed a system to operate a traditional piston engine with a combination of 70% water and 30% ethanol – no gas or diesel required. With simple modifications, MayMaan claims that existing engines could save 50% on fuel costs, produce fewer emissions than gasoline or diesel, and their solution is up to 60% more efficient.
While they are light on providing technical details, having sustainable, fossil-free fuel on the market is the direction we need to go in, and it’s great to see that people are dedicating their lives to reinvent the wheel.
The first focus of MayMaan’s revolutionary technology is diesel engines which are used in trucks, generators and heavy equipment.
Diesel is notorious for high levels of pollution, and Doron, one of Yehuda’s sons, and the company’s vice president shared with The Jerusalem Post, that the company is in the final stages of development of a diesel generator – claiming that is will be in production by 2020, and will be sold as a back-up generator for mid-sized businesses, and additionally as a generator for remote locations around the world in support of electrical production.
MayMaan claims that this technology is green and environmentally friendly, and is not like diesel and gasoline engines, this technology would eliminate emissions of virtually all sulfur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Eitan, explains how the main challenge of alternative fuel is the high cost of infrastructure needed for fueling and producing a new device.
Whereas this is one of MayMaan’s strengths. Since they use a proven and popular internal combustion engine. Their liquid fuel could be pumped just like traditional fuels, and best of all, it would cost far less to run than any other energy solution, including fossil fuels.
Due to the lack of details, there is some skepticism surrounding the project and how possible it is. Let’s hope it’s not because something as revolutionary was this could help beyond measure.
MayMaan is seeking additional partners to make their impact on the world.