They were a success! 1806:
Francois Isaac de Rivaz (born in Paris, December 19, 1752; Died in Sion, July 30, 1828) was a Swiss inventor, credited with inventing and constructing the first successful internal combustion engine in 1806. The engine was powered by a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen gas was contained in a balloon and the ignition was an electrical Volta starter. A year later, Francois Isaac de Rivaz built one of the first automobiles – of course, powered by his new engine.
NOTE: Gasoline was not used for internal combustion engines until 1870.
https://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/energy-news/?page_id=819
Video of a water powered car from 1974 https://www.bitchute.com/video/VTbTVVWbwMuq/
Bingo on Big Oil, spot on.
With The Great Awakening revealing many things to humanity, I'm really hoping alternative technologies will be as well. If they haven't been furthered unbeknownst to us, then breaking up the Big companies would allow for development.