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A new hydrogen-powered fuel cell hybrid electric scooter will offer city commuting without harming the environment, the chief executive of Intelligent Energy (IE) said at the bike's launch in London. The Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter, made by clean power systems company IE and Suzuki Motor Corp., will be tested in Loughborough from this month, with further road tests planned for London later this year.

Fuel cell Suzuki scooter
source: http://www.calgaryherald.com/

"We see a market pull for more energy-efficient products and there is a real drive to bring hydrogen vehicles to market en masse by 2015," Henri Winand. Hydrogen has long been touted as an alternative energy source but one of the biggest obstacles to wider adoption of fuel-cell vehicles is the lack of hydrogen fuelling stations.

The Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter is fuelled by a cylinder of hydrogen, which reacts with oxygen to produce electricity and water. A lithium-ion battery and fuel cell provide the vehicle's power and the only gas emitted through the exhaust is water vapour. Unlike other fuel cell vehicles, the battery does not need recharging. It can recharge itself when accelerating or deccelerating and continues to produce power as long as it has hydrogen and oxygen.

The bike can go up to 350 kilometres without the need for refuelling. This then takes less than five minutes at a hydrogen fuelling station, the companies said. The London Hydrogen Partnership (LHP) aims to have six or more such stations running by 2012 which will be enough to fuel fleets until then, Winand said. IE is also involved in the manufacture of hydrogen-fuelled taxis for London. The LHP hopes to have 50 on the roads by 2012, and will start trialling five hydrogen buses from next month in East London.