Part 2 here:

By the end of the first quarter of 2020, cell service providers were pushing their new 5G devices. 

If a you lived in a densely populated area, the devices worked wonderfully. Web pages displayed almost immediately, mapping applications were faster, streaming in general was faster. 

If you lived in a rural area, however, you were still relegated to 4G or even 3G. There were still areas in the great wide expanse that were even slower than that. There were communities in the northwest that had no cellular signal at all. 

5G was to be the next big thing. It would make auto-driving vehicles possible. It was figured that by 2025 autonomous vehicles would be making daily commutes in and around the cities. By 2030, they would take over in most areas. Anyone who still drove  themselves would be looked upon as backwards as the amish. 

The small company for Josh worked could neither to rent nor buy the new fleet vehicles. 

Gas and diesel were more expensive since fewer people were using it. The only reason the oil companies had not completely folded was that commercial transport companies require petroleum. 

Jets, freight trains and semis just cannot run on batteries. Nor could tractors. 

Small farms started going under very quickly only to be snatched up by huge corporate farms at auction for pennies on the dollar. They could afford the high costs. They would merely pass them on to the consumer.

Josh had been doing research and testing off and on for a few years on gasoline and diesel alternatives. 

Hydrogen gasifiers were big and bulky and needed a constant supply of wood, cardboard or anything that would smoke heavily. 

Bio-diesel tended to make your engine run rough if you didn't make it right. And if you made it from used vegetable oil, your exhaust would smell like whatever was cooked in it. 

Both of these would draw unwanted attention.

Several years ago, Josh had found some articles and videos about Brown's gas or what became known as hydroxy.

Bob Boyce had supposedly raced speed boats using this as fuel. 

Stanley Meyer also had some success with a different approach. 

In the end, it didn't matter.

Boyce's workshop had been destroyed on numerous occasions until he gave up his project. 

Meyer been poisoned because he wouldn't give up on his. 

Their research had been on line for years but it was getting more difficult to find. 

Josh had started downloading everything he could find on the subject. He printed out a few pages here and there of schematics and instructions. 

He tried rat-nesting the described circuit but couldn't quite get it to work right. He used a prototyping board without real success either.

He finally decided to create his own printed circuit board.

Image Credit: "Cave sunset" by benketaro is licensed under CC BY 2.0