Eco-friendly hydrogen-powered motorcycles save up to 50% in fuel cost

2011-10-28

    After working together in developing electric scooters for 10 years, NTUST and Asia Pacific Fuel Cell Technologies, Ltd. (APFCT) launched the first hydrogen-powered motorcycle that is ready for mass production. The scooter is powered by energy generated from chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. The motorcycle powered by the chemical reaction releases from driving only water that is drinkable.

    The new product uses low-pressure hydrogen storage cans instead of traditional battery for electric motors. It produces zero toxic emission. Only water drips from its exhaust pipe. The bike has neither air pollution nor sound pollution. It moves smoothly without noise. When the bike is parked, you'll see water dripping down. To show how clean the water is, members of the research team drink the water from exhaustion right on the spot.

    The new hydrogen-powered scooters are different from the electric motorbikes currently sold in the market in that it can travel up to 70 km with one charge, 30 km longer than the old 40 km run, and it takes only 15 seconds to replace the hydrogen storage cans, 3-4 hours faster from recharging. The old electric motorbikes sell at the price of between 30 and 40 thousand NT dollars. The new product costs 400 thousands to build. The cost will certainly be reduced so as to be competitive if the scooter is put into mass production and the technology can produce less expensive canned hydrogen storage so that the fuel cans are available in convenient stores.  

    According to Professor Hwang Bing-Joe of NTUST ' s Energy Sustainable Center, the scooter is powered by two cans of low-pressure metal hydride for hydrogen storage. To recharge, the driver only needs to go to some vendor machine, a convenient store, or a gas station to replace the fuel cell cans. Mr. Chen Chien-Hao, project manager of APFCT, said that the new model costs 400 thousand NT dollars to build. However, once it is put into mass production, the production cost will be greatly reduced, especially when the parts and components are made from molding. It is very likely that a mss-produced new motorbike will soon be sold as low as a competitive tag of 50 thousand NT.