Basque Hydrogen Fuel Cell Scooter
26 April 2006
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| Basque fuel-cell scooter. |
A pair of Basque engineers have designed a scooter powered by a hydrogen fuel-cell. The fuel-cell scooter derives from a prior project to design a fuel-cell powered electric bicycle undertaken by the Cidetec-IK4 Electrochemical Technological Centre in collaboration with the Department of Sustainable Development of the Regional Government of Gipuzkoa (Diputación).
The scooter uses a 500-watt fuel cell weighing 2.5 kilograms and hits a top speed of about 20 km/h (12 mph). Compared to its chemical-battery powered cousins, the fuel-cell scooter offers time savings (no downtime for recharging) and consistent power as long as the fuel supply lasts (the same advantages offered by fuel-cell material handling equipment such as forklifts over their battery-powered versions).
As to cost, researchers at Cidetec-TK4 acknowledge that hydrogen is “very difficult and costly.” Fifty liters of high-purity hydrogen stored at 200 bar pressure would cost approximately €180 (US$223) according to their estimates. The scooter fuel cell, at the maximum output of 500 watts, consumes 6 liters of hydrogen per minute.
Moreover, storing hydrogen in volumes similar to the storage of petroleum oil is “almost impossible.” New materials capable of storing greater densities of hydrogen are being studied, such as metal hydrides, but we are now referring to technologies still under development.
(A hat-tip to Daryl Elliott and Fuel Cell Works!)
So this thing costs $26.76 to run per minute. But hey, you don't have to recharge it. What a freaking joke.
Posted by: t | 26 April 2006 at 07:38 AM
t, they left out an important line from the press release that you can see if you click the link. It says:
"“50 litres of high-purity hydrogen stored at 200 bars pressure costs approximately 180 €. With a cell of 500 Watts (nominal), 6 litres a minute are consumed, i.e. the cell will function for 24 hours at full power”."
I think what they mean is that 50 liters @ 200 bar is 10,000 liters of H2. Thus, 10,000 / 6 = 1666 minutes, which is nearly 28 hours in fact. However, obviously there isn't a 50 liter tank on the scooter, 50 liters is the standard tank size for many cars, so the comparison made no sense.
The scooter's tank size does not seem to be listed, but looking at that photo, I have trouble believing it has room for more than a 2-liter tank. 2 liters @ 200bar would be 400 standard liters which is 66 minutes at full power, and at 12mph, that means it has about a 12 mile range. Now since 50 liters is $223, 2 liters would be $9, which works out to 75 cents a mile. Way more than gasoline, but still not outrageous.
Posted by: Sid Hoffman | 26 April 2006 at 09:01 AM
The argument in favor of hydrogen fuel, "no downtime for recharging", has a counter-argument to consider, especially with a scooter application. This scooter probably isn't safe at speeds higher than 10 mph, so it will not be useful for long-distance travel. Short distance trips within smoothly paved urban environs could be guaged without refueling outside the home. Oh wait. Hydrogen fuel is not likely to become a home-based fuel like the chemical battery. So, where's the advantage of hydrogen over chemical battery? Hydrogen extends trip travel to filling stations, an additional travel necessity further limiting its potential.
Hydrogen is conceived as a way to maintain current travel pattern which is unsustainable no matter the fuel. A vehicle with limited range but can be fueled at home, reduces trip travel and this is the only real solution. Hydrogen fuel cell technology is a fraud.
Posted by: Wells | 26 April 2006 at 10:04 AM
A couple of things:
a: 500 watts is a lot for an e-bike. 1/2 that will do.
b: Why did they build onto such a pig of a scooter ?
Why not use a hybrid bike for instance. Then you would have much lower rolling resistance and better ability in real situations.
A 500W e-bike would be very fast ( > 25 MPH ) at full power, and a fuel cell one would be cool, but you could do it just as well with Lithium.
Posted by: mahonj | 26 April 2006 at 02:35 PM
Honda scooters start at 49cc motor size. Not sure on power rating but a 4 stroke 25cc honda motor (GX25) puts out 1.1hp or ~820W of power. 500W, therefore, is not an unreasonable amount of power.
BTW- 250W is about what the average cyclist can sustain for an hour. (I believe Armstrong is putting out about ~400W continuous on the last hour of a several hour cycling marathon). 250W would not be sufficient unless you had a vehicle which was as light as a road bicycle with the low rolling resistance tires, and forced the rider into a more aerodynamic position.
Posted by: patrick | 26 April 2006 at 05:54 PM
Interesting numbers for cycling. New handheld power tools Makita division of B&D begin to cell in June will have Li Ion battery from A123 with a whopping punch of about 2 KW. One can just take such battery out of the bike (and significantly reduce bike’s value for thieves) and take it along with charger to the office, or apartment – on 30 floor – and recharge it at leisure. No need for infrastructure. Just see it on streets of Amsterdam…
Posted by: Andrey | 26 April 2006 at 08:19 PM
Well overall its a stupid bike and they arnt egtting very good prices on thier h2 either;/
A much better fuel cell bike made awhile back got 100 miles on a 3 buck tank of h2. And it went a hell of alot faster to boot.
It also looked nice.
Posted by: wintermane | 27 April 2006 at 08:07 AM
Most cyclists do nothing like 250W.
100 - 150W is much more like it.
Surely, the whole point is to make a vehicle which is more "bike like" and very light rather than a motor scooter like vehicle.
Then 250W is plenty of power. You will want HP tires - why not ?
The Makita battery sounds like a good idea.
It depends on whether you are trying to build an electric bicycle, or an electric motorbike.
For town use, he bicycle would be better, for longer faster runs, you would want the motorbike.
Posted by: mahonj | 28 April 2006 at 05:28 AM
"Makita division of B&D" You mean dewalt?
Dewalt is owned by B&D but last I knew Makita was not part of that group.
Skill is a division of Bosch power tools.
Posted by: rj | 28 April 2006 at 09:36 AM
BTW- 250W is about what the average cyclist can sustain for an hour. (I believe Armstrong is putting out about ~400W continuous on the last hour of a several hour cycling marathon). 250W would not be sufficient unless you had a vehicle which was as light as a road bicycle with the low rolling resistance tires, and forced the rider into a more aerodynamic position
Posted by: makita battery | 24 October 2007 at 02:24 AM