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UK's Loughborough Uni Demos Hydrogen Motorcycle

Posted by timothy on from the drinking-tube-straight-from-exhaust dept.

rolandw writes "The Beeb have a piece about Loughborough University's hydrogen motorcycle and one of the UK's first hydrogen fuel pumps (presumably all developed by their excellent Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering department). Offering 50mph, the ENV will have a range of 100 miles on a 3-minute refill of hydrogen. By-products are warm air and 'drinkable' water. It will be interesting to compare these hydrogen powered vehicles with the hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles as pioneered by such as the Morgan prototype 'Lifecar' in the near future."

14 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. LUFBRA by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Informative

    LUFBRA for the win!

    No, it is't pronounced "Loogabarooga".

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:LUFBRA by dintech · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Of course. Everyone knows Loogabarooga is the university in the Jungle Book. One invents hydrogen motorcylces and the other eductates miscreant monkeys. I can see how it's easy to get confused though. :)

    2. Re:LUFBRA by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 4, Funny

      LUFBRA for the win!
      No, it is't pronounced "Loogabarooga".

      No no no, it's spelled, "Raymond Luxury Yacht," but it's pronounced, "Throatwobbler Mangrove".

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  2. Hydrogen Generation by harl · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What are the byproducts of producing the hydrogen?

    --
    I find being offended by me offensive.
    1. Re:Hydrogen Generation by mini_razor · · Score: 3, Informative

      The artcle states it uses renewable energy to create the electricity to power the electrolysis of the water. Therefore there are no byproducts at that end and oxygen is the only byproduct in the electrolysis, but as this can also be sold I wouldn't say its a by product. As for the combustion of Hydrogen in the engine, it is combusted in oxygen which forms everyones favourite molecule H2O. It is pretty much the cleanest form of power generation there is.

  3. Yay by Colin+Smith · · Score: 2, Informative

    Or... How propaganda and political meddling manage to send science research down blind alleys for 10 years.

    Sorry. The Hydrogen infrastructure not only isn't going to happen, it would be a disaster if it did.

     

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    Deleted
    1. Re:Yay by abigor · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh come on, you can't make a comment like that and not explain it! Although given current methods for hydrogen production, I agree with you.

  4. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I have a motorcycle that runs on red herring, slated to be the replacement of fossil fuels and answer to all our portable energy needs.

  5. Problem by philspear · · Score: 2, Funny

    How do they keep it from floating away? Won't someone think of the humanity?!?!

    (Kidding, I know it won't, I'm assuming the hydrogen is compressed and won't provide lift as a result, and have heard all about how the hindenburg burned because of rocket fuel paint, so don't start)

  6. Where can I buy one? by MalleusEBHC · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One of the biggest problem with non-gasoline powered vehicles is making them reasonably convenient. It's going to be very, very hard to get people to switch to electric cars that they must charge overnight and plan their daily miles accordingly. This bike looks to be just as convenient as a scooter and almost as good as a normal motorcycle. Getting 100 miles to a tank is close enough to what most riders are used to, so I don't see that being an impediment. Ditto for 3 minutes to fuel up. The 50 mph top speed is low for a motorcycle, but normal for many scooters. Given how much more popular scooters have been recently, there is definitely a market for a vehicle like this. Plus, this is a prototype, so I bet that making a bike that tops out at 80-90 mph and is capable of sustained freeway speeds is not a huge stretch.

    The only question left is how much does it cost in dollars per mile traveled? I know this is hugely dependent on how the hydrogen is created and therefore the cost of electricity, but all the green thoughts in the world mean nothing to the masses if it is much more expensive than gasoline.

  7. Only 50MPH? by lisaparratt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And then limited even lower? Half of my commute is a 60 limit.

    Riding gutless motorcycles at speeds lower than the surrounding traffic is plain dangerous and damned scary, whether they're powered by hydrogen, petrol, or whatever. Impatient traffic tailgates you trying to intimidate you into going faster, or tries to overtake, forcing you into the gutter. One of the main safety features of a motorcycle is that they're quicker an nimbler than almost anything else on the road - if things look as if they're going wrong, it's common to accelerate away from the source of danger. With this bike, there's no escape route.

    Hydrogen vehicles aren't going to get anywhere until they're a fully fledged road user, rather than a second class citizen.

    1. Re:Only 50MPH? by MalleusEBHC · · Score: 2, Informative

      There are a lot of people who ride scooters that can't top 50 mph. Obviously you can't go on the freeway, but they are plenty powerful for regular city streets. They are especially useful in urban areas.

  8. A fuel-efficient motorcycle? No kidding! by jfengel · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Vehicle not carrying extra protective carapace gets great fuel economy. Film at 11.

    If we all drove motorcycles, we would be able to power them off gasoline, because they regularly get two to three times as many miles per gallon as cars. Except that they're wildly dangerous, because they offer no protection in a crash, especially when everybody else is driving cars.

    We see the same story in cars all the time: they build a car that's little more than a motorcycle, and by taking away all of the protective (and heavy) metal, it gets huge MPG. Even if there is some sort of useful advance in the engine technology it's dwarfed by just getting rid of all the metal.

    So you can build a hydrogen motorcycle. So what? We knew it could be done. All you've done is to offer us a motorcycle that's very safe because you can't refuel it anywhere so you can't actually get it out of the driveway.

  9. Uhhh, Safe? by speedingant · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Did anyone notice the front forks, brakes and wheel? Looks like they were taken from my downhill bike! Safe at 50mph? Hmm..