Fuel-cell motorbike

Intelligent Energy has unveiled what it claims is the world’s first fuel-cell motorbike.

Its so-called ENV (Emissions Neutral Vehicle) bike was designed to the company’s brief by a British team led by UK designers Seymourpowell.

In an urban or off-road environment, the new bike can reach speeds of 50 mph. It is also virtually silent with noise emissions equivalent to an everyday home computer. On a full tank, the ENV bike could be used continually for up to four hours without any need for re-fuelling.

At the bike’s heart is the CORE - a 1kW fuel cell generator providing power on demand directly to the drive-train. To enhance performance during peak power demand (i.e. when accelerating), the fuel cell is hybridised with a battery pack to provide a 6kW peak load to the motor.

The CORE is a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) type fuel cell – one of five different fuel cell types, all of which have different attributes in terms of size, robustness and ability to work at high temperatures. Each fuel cell is a multi-layered sandwich of plates and MEAs (Membrane Electrode Assemblies), in which the MEA acts as a catalyst during an electro-chemical reaction, producing water and electricity from hydrogen and oxygen.