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| Science |
| World's First Fuel Cell Motorcycle Unveiled |
| 2005-03-20 |
| British company Intelligent Energy today unveiled ENV, the world's first purpose-built, fuel-cell motorbike - ahead of any of the world's leading automotive companies. The ENV bike is the creation of Intelligent Energy, a British energy solutions company, whose board includes Chairman Sir John Jennings, the former Chairman of Shell Transport and Trading. The ENV (Emissions Neutral Vehicle) bike was designed to Intelligent Energy's brief by a British team, led by multi-award-winning designers Seymourpowell. The ENV bike is fully-functioning and has been engineered and purpose-built (based around Intelligent Energy's CORE fuel cell) from the ground up, demonstrating the real, everyday applicability of fuel cell technology. The CORE, which is completely detachable from the bike, is a radically compact and efficient fuel cell, capable of powering anything from a motorboat to a small domestic property... Key Components of the Bike Power System Motor - 6kW, 48 VDC Brush motor (model LEM-170, supplied by LMC) Motor Controller - Brusa Direct Current (model MD 206) Fuel Cell - 1kW Intelligent Energy air-cooled (2 x AC32-48) Hydrogen Storage - High pressure carbon composite cylinder (Luxfer L65) Hydrogen Energy - 2.4kWeh Storage Battery - 4 x 12V Lead Acid (15Ahr) connected in series Performance Data Acceleration - 0 20 mph in 4.3s (32kph), 0 30 mph in 7.3s (48 kph), 0 50 mph in 12.1s (80kph) Top speed - 50 mph (80kph) (note: ENV has been tested to 50mph however, with further refinements and redevelopments, this top speed is expected to be exceeded) Range - At least 100 miles (160km) Physical Bike mass - 80 kg (Total mass including CORE) Fuel Hydrogen - 99.9% purity Oxygen - Taken from air Hydrogen refuel time less than 5 minutes Interface Electrical connection - Multi-core (Intelligent Energy specific) |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #8 Robert and AzCat - even the slightly-left-of-center Scientific American crowd agrees - the only practical, cost-effective way to go to a hydrogen economy is with nuclear power. Dass OK by me. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-03-20 11:57:35 PM |
| #7 AzCat: This is a new technology, and one that we hopefully will be seeing a lot more of soon. It does not require centralized hydrogen production. Fuel cells split fuels like ethanol to very efficiently get energy from them, far more so than could any combustion engine. Already, very small fuel cells are powering cell phones, and they should have one capable of powering a laptop soon. And unlike a battery, you just squirt an ounce of alcohol into the cell, and it should give you all the energy your laptop needs for a couple of hours or more. Similar membrane splitting technology can split water into hydrogen and oxygen gas, then use them as fuel or recombine them into purer-than-distilled water. This technology really has OPEC shaking in its boots, and is one of the reasons the middle east is economically trying to horizontally expand beyond petrochemicals, mostly into tourism and transportation. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-03-20 11:27:48 PM |
| #6 This thing is horribly energy inefficient as it requires at least 3 and probably 4 energy conversions. 1. To generate the electricty, 2. To produce the hydrogen, 3. To consume the hydrogen to create electricty. 4. To store and then utilize in a conventional battery?? otherwise why does the thing have batteries. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-03-20 11:27:02 PM |
| #5 BaR you think they stored it anyplace else? |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O’ Doom 2005-03-20 11:19:50 PM |
| #4 Hydrogen Storage - High pressure carbon composite cylinder (Luxfer L65) What I want to know, is where is this cylinder located? I'd prefer not have a very flammable gas being stored right under my gonads. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-03-20 10:56:01 PM |
| #3 Good points Robert. Assuming the hydrogen is available its production will have consumed more fossil fuels than would the production and use of the amount of gasoline required by a similar gasoline-powered moped. Hydrogen is a fantasy until we construct a few hundred new nuclear power plants. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2005-03-20 10:39:55 PM |
| #2 Where's it get the hydrogen? How much does it cost, and how much energy does it take to produce? How does that compare to an equivalent gasoline engine? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-03-20 10:33:37 PM |
| #1 0-50 mph in 12.1s (80kph) More like moped. It would be death to attempt to ride something that slow in any major city in the US. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2005-03-20 10:26:44 PM |