Fuel Cell Motorcycle unveiled in Tokyo

and now having read the article..a british off road magazine called TBR reviewed one of these bikes recently ..it was a kind of version with knobblies for the rough ...while they were impressed with the fuel cell even though it was underpowered, it could be readily refilled ..however the bike it self was mainly kitted out with mountain biking type equipment ..like the brake discs and calipers, all that kind of stuff ..and not really up to the job as a motorbike. perhaps these manufacturers have to realise that to sell a bike to a motorbiker primarily the bike must be a bike....to sell on the premise of environmentally friendly you are aiming at an entirely different set of people who may not be motorcyclists at all

A friend of mine that works at UTC Fuel Cells got to ride one of these not too long ago. He say’s it’s no match for his ST4s, but nothing that a coupla’ hundred million bucks of government money couldn’t iron out.

Completely Silent Motorcycle

Preferred bike of mime motorcycle gangs.

"Granola maker"- could be the best part of the article

or they could be trying to save on weight

If I recall this bike was both slow and had fairly limited range. Definitely not freeway speeds, maybe 50 mph top and 100 miles range? That problem has to be solved before these are much good as motorcycles. Then what'll I call the loud handle?

This is more of a motorcycle than that even though you've got to have the top case. Oh and it's from 2004.

http://www.aprilia.com/portale/eng/mag_articolo.phtml?id=651

Don't tell anyone you've got to burn fossil fuel to make hydrogen. It upsets the greenies.

I don't have a granola maker, so I guess I can skip buying one.

Most greenies I know already understand this and see the fuel-cell idea as a sop to the fossil fuel companies. It keeps them in business where a shift to pure electric vehicles would kill them outright. Fuel cells are temporary creatures, though. Battery technology is growing in leaps and bounds, so electric vehicles with more performance than any internal combustion engine are around the corner.

http://www.gizmag.com/go/4083/

Hey,I wrote about this thing about 8 months ago. Apparently youcan take the fuel cell and power your house,refill time is a couple of minutes and cost 4 bucks in electricity.[electric siphoning anyone?]Problem as I see it is where is the hydro station?or does the cell make it?Also the damned thing is too quiet.In order for it to be viable you have to have hydro stations or carry around an extra cell.I do think it would work in certain inner cities where cars are prohibited[Portland?]Or gated communities.They promised the same thing with the Segway,yeah right!And also this thing was only supposed to be around 6-7 grand,now up to 1o grand? No thanks.

Yes. But you still have to burn fossil fuels to get the electricity. When you charge batteries you have to put a lot more than 10 amp hours through a battery to charge it to the point where it will give you 10 amp hours.



A Honda Civic uses less fossil fuel and puts out less pollution than you generate by charging any sort of battery powered car from the power plant.

Yeah but it doesnt' make you feel as good at the Sierra Club meeting.



It's hard to be a pompous ass when you're at the Shell station with the proletariat.

Yeah, but he lives near a big, fast river at the edge of a windy plain where they get sunshine 16 hours a day, 365 days a year; between his solar panel, windmill and river-driven turbine he is easily able to produce all of the electricity he will ever need!

Don't say "proletariat". You'll waken Gabe.

Hydrogen vs Biodiesel

Buz is right for once.

Where are you going to get all of the hydrogen and electricity?

Japanese will build nuke plants

They don't want to be dependent on us for Biodiesel (remember WW2 started because of some oil thing...little remembered fact) or the Middle East for Oil

Read the entire article and found nothing about new battery technology. They did how ever make a bike with an electric motor that was faster than a 50cc two stroke Derbi, but weighed over 50 lbs more. I wonder how the electric version would have faired against a gas version with the same 50 lbs added in the form of a larger and more powerful engine.

Excellent point.

Yep thats the problem with electical motors...Good for trains, etc. Not good for airplanes. Take a part an electric motor and your chainsaw two stroke. I am sure a 100cc Derbi would of left in the dust...