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A first-ever fuel cell bicycle that can take riders up to 125 kilometres on a single battery charge has been developed by Australian researchers, providing a low—cost and sustainable transport option.
Created by a team of scientists at University of New South Wales (UNSW), the ‘Hy-Cycle’ is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and can take riders up to the maximum range for hydrogen worth two Australian dollars.
The fuel cell provides electrical assistance with pedalling, enabling the rider to easily travel uphill and long distances.
“Cities such as London and Paris are trying to provide fleets of bicycles that people can hire for a few hours a day to commute to and from work,” UNSW scientist Kondo—Francois Aguey—Zinsou said.
“This is a key market for the ‘Hy—Cycle’ It’s main innovation is the demonstration of hydrogen as a clean and safe energy,” Aguey—Zinsou said.
“What we have been trying to develop is a new way to store hydrogen in a very compact fashion,” Aguey—Zinsou said adding, hydrogen storage can be a problem because it’s a light gas, but with the material and the technology one can make it safe to store and use.
In ‘Hy—Cycle’, hydrogen is stored in a 2.5 kilogram canister, adjacent to the pedals.
The canister feeds the fuel cell, which is located under the seat and continuously recharges a Lithium—ion battery.
A standard metal hybride inside the canister enables safe, user—friendly storage of the hydrogen.
One kilogram of the standard metal hybride is capable of storing 100 litres of hydrogen, but researchers at the Material Energy Research Laboratory in nanoscale (MERLin) at UNSW are now developing borohydrides that could store the same amount of hydrogen using just 50 grams of storage material.
Hydrogen for the ‘Hy—Cycle’ can be produced with as little as 100 millilitres of water.
The water is split into its elements — oxygen and hydrogen — and the fuel cell recombines the hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity.
The researchers believe hydrogen power should be used similar to other renewable energy technologies such as solar.
“We should not be waiting to harness hydrogen fuel cell technology when it is ready now. Australia has been missing a lot of great opportunities through its focus on solar, when the reality is we have a lot of other renewable capabilities that we can take and make happen.” Aguey—Zinsou said.
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