Aqwon, the First Hydrogen Scooter

An anonymous reader writes "After 10 years of research and development, Josef Zeitler has developed the first hydrogen-filled two stroke engine scooter with technical approval from the German TÜV. In case of an accident, the tank will freeze and no fire or explosion would occur. Anyone can fill-up the tank on the scooter within 3 to 4 minutes, without being in any danger. The pressure sensor will transmit the data to a computer chip, which will then accumulate and send the necessary information, regarding the proper hydrogen mixture, to the injection jet. This process of refilling is possible with a newly developed system consisting of pressure tanks and a hydrogen generator. AQWON's top speed is about 50 km/h (31 mph), the power is 2.6 kWh and the weight is minimal. This is the same as a petrol/oil two stroke scooter. There is no extra maintenance service required."

Comments

Cool

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder what materials the engine is made of? Hydrogen embrittles metals so a current ICE would fail much more quickly if running on H2.

The home fueling station is nice. Throw in a solar panel or two and now we're talking.

But alas it's a scooter and scooters in America are like dating fat chicks: you'd like to ride it but you don't want your friends to know.

Re:Two stroke?

[Angry White Guy]

1) the power increase needed
2) the fact that Hydrogen is clean burning and you don't have to waste an engine cycle on fully burning your fuel.

Range

[gerf]

is 100km. That's not bad at all really. But still, the major question remains: where are we getting hydrogen from?!

We don't have large hydrogen producing plants, and we don't have a major distribution center to support it. I'm assuming you'll have to fill up your tank at home, which means installing a LOT of equipment, at GREAT expense, at least until a good distribution system is in place. Yes there are some hydrogen refueling places, but not really that many yet.

I support many of Bush's plans, but he really has to drop oil, and focus on something even more proven: that technology advances, and new products replace the old.

Re:Range

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if this would not make a good replacement for lawn mower engines and the like. They are already being singled out as major producers of pollution. Range would not be a big problem for the typical user. The fuel coudl be generated with a system that generates a trickle of hydrogen, such as solar or wind, with maybe electrical as a backup.

Would be nice to see hydrogen get any kind of foothold in our economy.

hydrogen vs. electric for "scooters"...

[ptorrone]

this looks pretty interesting, i'm not sure i'm sold on hydrogen quite yet. i just got away from "filling" up by using electricity for my transportation needs.

hydrogen requires quite a bit of energy to create, it's volatile, the only companies that really have the infrastructure to pull this off are the folks we get gas from now.

i currently use electricity to charge my "scooter" i get the power from solar panels or any plug anywhere (at work, on the go, etc..) anytime. i can charge up anytime and the power from a power plant is far cleaner than hydrogen production at this time.

i think hydrogen and electric is far better than petroleum, but hydrogen forces me to "fill up" electricity does not and it's everywhere and can be made with solar, wind, hydro, etc...

it seems like hydrogen gets us to a more profitable proposition for companies, it's like printer cartridges and razors blades for shavers, we need to keep buying. with electricity, it's different-- we can plug in anywhere, but the gas companies do not make money off that. i think that's the other reason the auto-industry is moving away from electric cars and more towards hydrogen and hybrid, granted...batteries aren't perfect either, if the systems are not planned properly you won't be able to recycle the batteries.

read more about my ride here at my site.

cheers,
pt

Safety

[Waffle Iron]

In case of an accident, the tank will freeze and no fire or explosion would occur. Anyone can fill-up the tank on the scooter within 3 to 4 minutes, without being in any danger.

Unfortunately however, failing to learn the lessons of history, the manufacturer coated the scooter with a shiny silver coat of volatile powdered aluminum rocket fuel.

Alternative-powered vehicles seem to be crippled..

[Sleepy]

There seem to be a number of "alternative" vehicles, but even if you ignore cost, refueling, etc. in the USA they are impractical for one major reason:

You can't drive them in enough places.

I DON'T expect these things to drive on the interstate highways at 55+ MPH, but...

AFAIK, most of the electric and other alt-vehicles will do 30MPH (48kph). That's great if you ONLY want to drive through your city center but it's useless anywhere else. Not just this vehicle, but lots of alt vehicles are governed to very low speeds, and then you have general cars/motorbikes/trucks. There's nothing in-between.

Most cities have flattened out into suburban sprawl. Here there are as many people (and jobs) AS the city proper. Good luck driving anything limited to 30MPH on a 40MPH road: it may be legal, but you'll probably be pulled over by an ignorant policeman (or one trying to protect you from the 30 cars tailgating and making illegal passes around you).

There are a lot of drivers who believe if you impede their progress, you are stealing their lifeforce and so you are attacking them and they must defend themselves by going into "road rage" mode.

I'm not kidding either. It's perfectly legal to pedal your bike on most non-interstate (highway) roads, but unless it has a wide paved margin/edge like a breakdown lane, good luck... you'll be run off the road. The police generally aren't interested unless you are seriously hurt or someone recently died. In my small city, they ticket bikes on the sidewalk but not hostile drivers.

Sorry for the rant. An alternative-powered scooter would be SWEET if it ran 40mph with a range of 100 miles. Then you could drive to work and back without feeling like you were "asking for trouble" on the road.

Nitpick

[Ed Avis]

The story contains a typo - the power output is about 2.6kW, not 2.6kWh (which would be a measure of energy).

Of course, if you are like the freezer manufacturer who quoted their product's power consumption in 'kilowatt hours per week', you could say that the scooter produces 2.6kWh per hour...

Hydrogen combustion is actually polluting

[orzetto]

I don't think pollution is a problem for hydrogen engines -- they don't burn hydrocarbons.

Actually it is. Hydrogen combustion does not generate CO2, but it has inherent problems with high-temperature combustion. This means, there is going to be high air excess to lower the actual temperature in order to avoid needing a tungsten engine which would be a bit expensive.

This high air excess will in turn cause a massive production of NOx, a highly pollutant compound (actually they are two, NO and NO2) that is caused by the high-temperature combustion. It is quite reactive and is one of the most toxic stuffs a petrol car spits out.

This is a known problem with H2 combustion engines. If you want a zero-emission engine, you have to use H2 with fuel cells, not in piston engines.

Sweet

[gfilion]

I don't know why, but I'm really attracted by this scooter.

Those germans sure know about marketing...

GFK's

fueling station fits inside a cabinet

[nounderscores]

The fueling station fits inside a cabinet. the multimedia presentation shows a person posing with it, where it is installed next to a washing machine. The fueling station appears to be some kind of electrolosys device connected to mains water and power (site says that solar power might have enough energy to do a good job too) and storing the hydrogen in ordinary looking gas cylinders. Refueling takes 3 to 4 minutes according to the website (click the link to "Description of innovation" on this page - they like to put their info in little popups) and provides enough fuel for a 100km range.

The engine is oil free by virtue of design (uses some other lubrication method which they don't describe), and is very light.

I think that there might be a future in installing coin-op/creditcard refuel points in colleges and public transport hubs. All you need is water, power and city approval.

Re:First Hydrogen, eh?

[halo8]

ya know.. im be anal here..

but..

this post ISNT funny, this is the kind of backward 1930's thinking that has been holding everything back for the past 66 years..

35 ppl died thats it.. just 35.. thats a CNN story for a day.. nothing more, big fireball thats it. big deal

hydogen cars and new airships have been soo promising from new transport ships, to rescue, to heavy lifting construction, to communication platforms..

but its your kind of backward mentality that is stopping investors from exploiting a wonderfull resource

Hydrogen did not cause the Hindenburg fire

[The Original Yama]

For many years it was claimed that the Hindenburg caught alight because of its hydrogen. Recent investigations have proven this to be false. Hydrogen burns clear, but the Hindenburg fire was not clear at all. It is most likely that the paint on the exterior of the Zeppelin was the cause: chemical analysis shows its composition to be similar to rocket fuel.