Fuel Cell Motorcycle
Background
Alex Bell, a senior at Swarthmore College majoring in Engineering, and Andres Pacheco, a senior at Swarthmore College majoring in Engineering and Economics, implemented a 1.2 kW fuel cell module in a motorcycle.
The main goal of the project was to design and build a functional H2 motorcycle as a point of comparison to other technologies in terms of efficiency, range, speed, etc and help evaluate the viability of a hydrogen economy by providing real world data.
Learnings
Is 1.2kW (1.6hp) enough to propel a motorcycle?
The team knew that the performance which the average motorcycle rider demands from a bike is much more than what can be supplied by a 1.6hp fuel cell source, especially in a 400 pound vehicle. They designed the vehicle knowing that the performance would be less than that of an electric bicycle or restricted moped. However the data on efficiency that was collected as well as experience in the design of the vehicle can all be scaled up to larger more practical designs.
The team would have liked to built a hydrogen power sport bike, but cost and availability of present commercial options made this impossible.
Electric vehicles offer advantages
The design of the bike can also be viewed as accomplishing more with less. Considering that walk behind lawn mowers for sale at home depot have over 6HP. That is almost 4 times the power that the team is using in the motorcycle. The reason the performance of the motorcycle with such little power is possible highlights one of the strengths of electric vehicles which is high efficiency and constant torque over a wide rpm range.
The team answers FAQs
What is the total cost of the vehicle?
The total cost of the vehicle was around 10,000 dollars with the vast majority of the price being the fuel cell unit.
What will happen to the motorcycle when you are finished?
The motorcycle will be dissembled in march of 2009. The fuel cell unit will go into a class demonstration unit which will be used for heat transfer and energy conversion experiments. The motor and controller will be used in future electric vehicles.
Is the motorcycle street legal?
No. We have not added the necessary safety and lighting gear or bothered with insurance and government licensing. As such it is ridden solely on private property.
When will I be able to purchase a fuel cell vehicle?
We don’t know. However, we can say that there are many positive features of fuel cell vehicles which will increase their popularity in the future. The two biggest positives are zero emissions and greater vehicle efficiency than internal combustion engines. However there are still many serious technical but mostly economic answers which may permanently prevent the implementation of fuel cell vehicles. The two biggest problems are the creation of a hydrogen refueling and production infrastructure which is cheaper and cleaner than other propulsion alternatives.
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