Anyone seen this? Hydrogen powered bike

Croxden

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Jan 26, 2013
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Deleted member 4366

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Looked like an Ezee motor and control system. Finally they got enough Hydrogen to make it worthwhile, but that cylinder looks expensive. The last one worked out more expensive than petrol.

It looks like between the battery and Hydrogen cylinder, you get 1250wh, which should be more than enough for a day's lazy riding, for $2 worth of Hydrogen and about 20P's worth of electricity. That's if you can find some way of getting the Hydrogen into the cylinder for $2.

Still, good progress. It's going in the right direction.I wonder how much the bike with its fuel cell would cost?
 

flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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Several years ago, I think about 2007, a young Austrian created and demonstrated a recumbent trike he'd built using hydrogen to power a fuel cell. With it's tank alongside the rear wheel it was good for 90 kilometres.

And way back in 2001 Aprilia displayed and demonstrated a hydrogen fuel cell e-bike that looked really stylish in a typical Italian manner.

So the concept clearly works and is hardly new technology any more, so what's stopping it? I suspect it's both the as yet suspect long term reliability of fuel cells in these applications and the lack of availablity of public hydrogen refilling or exchange containers.
.
 

RobF

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Sep 22, 2012
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Having to run through a battery rather spoils this.

Looks like the hydrogen bit weighs 2-3kg, so you may as well carry a spare battery.

Fair play to the prof, he does say in the interview the bike was built to show his students hydrogen power is not just about enormous commercial installations.

Declining battery performance is still a big drawback with ebikes, and ecars for that matter.

A cheap to recharge/exchange hydrogen cell which the public knew had a near limitless life of cycles would be a step forward.

But the biggest problem is a decent capacity battery is still big and heavy.

Progress in this area is glacial, but if the current bottle batteries had double or treble their capacity for the same weight, then ebikes might really take off.
 

mike killay

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Feb 17, 2011
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Problem with gas is what happened to me today.
Pulling out on to a main road, I could smell LPG in the air. Sure enough, a gas powered taxi went past.
But how to tell if is leaking, and what do you do?
If a petrol leak, you can see it.
The Police can cordon off the road, Fire Service put down sand and drain the tank etc.
 
C

Cyclezee

Guest
Yes the bike is an eZee Sprint 8 LDS and we should have the Hydrogen version available from the beginning of April 2015.:)
 

axolotl

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May 8, 2014
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Problem with gas is what happened to me today.
Pulling out on to a main road, I could smell LPG in the air. Sure enough, a gas powered taxi went past.
But how to tell if is leaking, and what do you do?
Easy - just add methyl mercaptan to the gas, as has been done with piped natural gas for decades now.
 

axolotl

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May 8, 2014
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I think that you miss the point. I could smell the gas in the air, but had no idea what direction etc.
In the example you gave, you were able to identify the source of the smell, so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make...?
 

flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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German bicycle company Electrolyte claim to have teamed up with one of the world's leading suppliers of fuel cells to produce a hydrogen powered e-bike based on their Vorradier range. Three hundred kilometres range is claimed.

This is reported in the new issue 9 of Electric Bike magazine, but they say it sounds more like a research project than a commercial proposition.

Electric Bike Magazine is free to read or PDF download on this link

http://electrolyte.bike/
 
D

Deleted member 4366

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There was one shown about three years ago that used hydrogen cartridges, but the cartridges werehideously expensive, as you can immagine.
 

anotherkiwi

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Jan 26, 2015
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For the moment they are all going to la poste. I imagine they are paying a price way over and beyond what a mere mortal would be willing to pay for one. The plan is to have a a general public one "in 2017". My advice, don't hold your breath and start saving...
 

Croxden

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Jan 26, 2013
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I met a man who lives locally who engineers hydrogen engines for taxis. They have several running and appear to be successful.

He asked me if I was interested in having a hydrogen bike, I wanted to know if I could produce my own hydrogen. I suggested he get on here where more knowledgable people than I might assist.

I've never seen him since.
 

mike killay

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Feb 17, 2011
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What is more efficient,
Using hydrogen in a fuel cell
OR just burning it in a conventional internal combustion engine?
 

Danidl

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Sep 29, 2016
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What is more efficient,
Using hydrogen in a fuel cell
OR just burning it in a conventional internal combustion engine?
Hi
Define efficient. This is not a sarcastic put down . The combustion of hydrogen and air produces 100% heat, nitro OXY compounds, water vapour and in a internal combustion engine, up to 30% of the energy in mechanical motion.
In a fuel cell, the reaction with air will produce water vapour , a little heat, very little and an electric current. Up to 60% maybe 70% of the intrinsic energy goes into electricity. Most of the fuel cells used need to be held at an elevated temperature, so there is a waste in energy in getting them to operate.
 

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