Hydrobike

Fuel cell vehicles are becoming a reality, with trials of fuel cell-powered buses well underway in several cities. But for personal transport, fuel cells are still seen as a technology of the future.

Public and industry alike tend to think the cells are not yet advanced enough; the infrastructure isn’t there; and nobody has a clear idea what a fuel cell-powered vehicle would actually be like.

Intelligent Energy, a fuel cell developer based in London and Los Angeles, has different ideas, however. Its ambient pressure PEM stacks generate power densities of 2.5kW/l; are lightweight; require no external cooling circuit; and can start at temperatures well below 0°C.

‘This is clearly the right technology for commercial applications. It exists now, and it works. And we wanted to demonstrate that to people,’ said Dennis Hayter, IE’s vice-president for business development.

What IE needed, Hayter said, was a design ‘that would make people want to try it out before they wanted to know how it worked’, and for that the company turned to London product design consultancy Seymourpowell.