Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y