The search for the perfect fuel is almost as complicated as the development of new refueling infrastructures (we’re already having a hard enough time with electric filling stations, imagine the others). Now, however, a group of manufacturers has marked a historic milestone with the first motorcycle to use a fuel that was illegal. A hint: it’s not electricity, not gasoline, but an extremely powerful one ….
New, unseen type of motorcycle could come to our roads
The engines of motorcycles have been mainly designed to use gasoline as their means of fuel, in the past. Nevertheless, recent years trends have pointed towards the development and implementation of fuels such as hydrogen for motorcycles.
A new technology that may be in future developed involves the manufacture of motorcycle engine that will use hydrogen fuel cell. It is pertinent to note that compared to standard combustion engines, hydrogen fuel cell engines do not combust fuel.
This is done through the application of an electrochemical process whereby hydrogen and oxygen combine to produce electricity which drives the engine. This lays down the basis for them to be called zero emission vehicles since the only thing they expel is water vapor.
This brand has finally achieved a milestone on hydrogen: more than ten years of development
In fact, the application of hydrogen fuel cells for motorcycles has been evolving even at the start of the 2000s. Automobile manufacturers commenced researching on fuel cell motorcycles in the early 2000s; in fact Suzuki presented its first hydrogen fuel cell motorcycle known as the Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter in 2002.
This was realized through a concept fuel cell system by Suzuki combined with compressed hydrogen gas tanks to power an electric motor. This technology remained active in Suzukis vehicle production for the next several years. Fuel cell scooters were first introduced on the road in 2005, but only a limited number of scooters were used.
Subsequently in 2008, Suzuki introduced second generation Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter with an enhancement in the fuel cell system which increased the range than the previous model which could travel 200kms full tank of hydrogen. Did you know that?
The IEET bike, the world’s first commercially built fuel cell motorcycle was unveiled in 2010 by Intelligent Energy company based in Warrington, England,. This bike used a compact air-cooled fuel cell system with compressed hydrogen as fuel and was listed to have maximum speeds of up to 80kph.
Suzuki Burgman, a prototype with a hydrogen motorcycle engine
Some of the well-known fuel cell two-wheelers are the Suzuki Burgman scooters models which use the fuel cell system. The Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter has been in development since 2008 with different models being developed in the market.
The scooter is powered by a fuel cell system that is provided by Intelligent Energy and they extract power from a compressed hydrogen gas which is housed in tanks in the scooter. This lets it run without charging or refueling networks and makes it useful in areas that could be hard to access.
Real road tests have proved that the Burgman can cover more than 200 kilometer on a tank full of hydrogen and it’s maximum attainable speed is 80kilometers per hour. Scooter is having no effluent output other than water vapour emanating from the exhaust pipe.
It is clear that a hydrogen motorcycle could open the way to true sustainable mobility, although we do not know if we will really manage to expand its full potential to other brands. The truth is that Suzuki is one of the few that has dared with this fuel, given the strong restrictions on the development of zero-emission engines for this vehicle (yes, paradoxically).
