I actually saw this in action last summer in China. Haier is interested in bringing this technology to the U.S., or so they told us in a meeting with their executives. But they are trying to figure out if it is appropriate for the U.S. consumer. The drum is very small and only washes a few items at time, mostly diapers as it was being marketed as a safer, detergent free process for sensitive babies.
It was smaller even than most other machines in Asia, which are typically smaller than ours. Perhaps they're working on making it larger as they enter new markets.

Part of the detergent's job is killing germs however, I wonder how it compares?

(Someting about breaking the water down into OH- and H ions...without getting into all the chemistry behind it.)

The pseudo-science, you mean?

Here is an explanation of why electrolysis will not do much of anything special to normal water.

So the machine basically washes clothes in plain old water. This will get your clothes cleaner than not being washed at all, but it won't have the other effects of a detergent.

Wende - this process is not electrolysis. That link you provided is interesting but its completely off-topic.

Cheers.

SeanG -- How odd you say that, when the description on the manufacturer's Web site says it uses electrolysis to ionize the water. Perhaps you should shoot them an email and ask them to correct their explanation of their process.

Hugs and kisses.

I'm thinking that the germs will be killed from high temperature settings...not sure what will happen for clothing that needs to be washed in cold water.

It has something to do with ions, not hot water. The president of Haier explained it to our group (through an interpretor) as an Ionic cleaning device. Take any explanation on their web site with a grain of salt. The Chinese are famous for mangling translations, International businesses included. Also, this same company uses a pair of oversized cartoon babies in diapers as their logo in Asia. Some things just don't translate.....

Techgirllaura, have you checked out the linked site in the article, which is in French, rather than an English translation from the Chinese?

I have, but don't read or speak French (bad high school French class memories here). But I have looked at the information on Haier's English language Web site. Also, I was just really lucky to go to SINOCES last summer, that's China's version of the Consumer Electronics Show. We were taken on HQ and factory tours of the major Chinese brands and this washing machine was given a lot of attention. The Ionic technology was discussed and the president of the company was very curious if U.S. consumers would be open to it.
My point really is, Chinese translations into any language really, are suspect. There's some great stories about how Beijing is trying to "sanitize" these in advance of the Olympics....

Ionized water is a great disinfectant, but it's not an oil solvent: this will only clean clothes without visible soiling.