This previous week, I attended the Micromobility Europe occasion in Amsterdam, the place I noticed many acquainted firm faces and a number of other new ones within the broader micromobility world. One of the fascinating new startups I noticed on the present was Hydroride Europe AG, which confirmed off a number of hydrogen-powered bicycles and a small at-home hydrogen generator for “recharging” the bike by producing small bottles of hydrogen gasoline.
From a distance, the bikes don’t look a lot totally different than some other electrical bike you’ve most likely seen earlier than.
And to be sincere, they don’t even look that totally different from up shut, both.
You’ll nonetheless spot a hub motor powering the wheel and what seems like a battery holder, both within the downtube or hidden in a rack-mounted unit. However while you flip the important thing and pop the “battery” lid, you’ll rapidly notice it’s hiding a bit of inexperienced bottle as an alternative of a blue shrink-wrapped battery.
These little hydrogen tanks, across the measurement of a 500 mL water bottle, maintain sufficient hydrogen for round 60 km or 36 miles of using. They feed hydrogen into an on-board hydrogen gasoline cell, which makes use of a chemical course of to transform the hydrogen into electrical energy, with the one output being water.
That’s proper, if the underside of your bike wasn’t so filthy, you possibly can most likely put your lips as much as it and drink.
My first journey on a hydrogen bike
After trying out the exhibit, I took one of many hydrogen bikes out for a check journey within the Amsterdam streets across the commerce present.
I’m unsure what I used to be anticipating, nevertheless it felt just about like…. some other European e-bike I’ve tried. The ability was high-quality, modest however high-quality. The journey was snug. And it felt like a reasonably typical electrical bike.
To be sincere, I assume that’s the purpose. Hydrogen isn’t meant to be some revolutionary sport changer for efficiency. On the finish of the day, the motor continues to be a fundamental 250W e-bike hub motor. And thus, the journey appears like a fundamental 250W e-bike.
The primary distinction is the place the vitality is coming from. On this case, from a bit of white field that appears like a laser printer, but is outwardly an at-home hydrogen generator.
If something, probably the most shocking factor concerning the journey itself was simply how unsurprising it was. I didn’t actually have to vary something about my using because it’s nonetheless an electrical bike, simply not a battery electrical bike.
E-bikes are already prolific. Why hydrogen?
It’s true, battery-powered electrical bikes are in every single place. If there was ever going to be a hydrogen vs battery e-bike conflict, you’d suppose it could be over earlier than it even started.
So why are we even nonetheless speaking about hydrogen bikes? Effectively, there are nonetheless a number of benefits over conventional e-bikes. Virtually all electrical bicycles today use lithium-ion batteries, which often require problematic or in any other case uncommon supplies to provide. As a lot as battery makers have tried to restrict the quantity of such minerals, we’re typically nonetheless beholden to suppliers from a handful of nations utilizing typically unethical means to acquire the required supplies to provide these batteries.
Hydrogen, then again, may be produced in your front room or kitchen utilizing a small hydrogen generator. Heck, you’ll be able to even purchase one on Amazon if you need. It nonetheless requires electrical energy to energy the electrolysis course of, that means you’re going to lose some vitality alongside the way in which on account of inefficiencies within the course of. However identical to how a wall charger doesn’t put 100% of the electrical energy that flows by way of it into your battery, there are all the time inefficiencies in vitality transfers. And equally to a wall charger for a battery e-bike, Hydroride’s electrolysis machine may be solar-powered, that means you’re successfully utilizing free vitality from the solar to provide gasoline. It’s actually a “simply add water” course of to generate your individual gasoline.
As soon as on the bike, the journey is as zero emissions as a battery-powered bicycle. Or, virtually as zero emissions, so long as you don’t rely the occasional drops of pure water produced by the hydrogen gasoline cell on board the bike.
Who is that this for?
It’s true, the corporate presents an at-home hydrogen generator and which means you possibly can conceivably use a hydrogen bike like this as your day by day rider. However as I realized on the sales space, they’re extra centered on B2B than B2C, with their essential aim being bike and scooter sharing corporations, not particular person customers such as you and me.
And that makes extra sense, for my part. Sure, I settle for that hydrogen has distinctive benefits that batteries don’t. However battery e-bikes have such a maintain on the trade that I don’t see main modifications coming there anytime quickly.
However for sharing corporations, these batteries are one of many largest complications of their trade. The only largest supply of emissions for many scooter and bike-sharing companies is the diesel-powered van that has to go round to swap batteries in this stuff. And so for those who may match bigger hydrogen bottles on these bikes to provide them extra vary (the small bottles already give scooters 100 km or 60 miles of vary), or you possibly can use native hydrogen mills for on-site bottle swaps, that would make a big effect.
It additionally removes the problem of charging a whole bunch of batteries at a storage depot and the ensuing fireplace considerations associated to these a whole bunch of batteries.
To be truthful, a fast verify of the periodic desk jogs my memory that hydrogen isn’t precisely probably the most inert of the gases, both. However we’ve come a great distance from the times of the Hindenburg and are fairly good about safely controlling the storage and switch of hydrogen, particularly in small water bottle-sized packages.
What’s my verdict?
To be sincere, I used to suppose hydrogen was useless on arrival for e-bikes. And I nonetheless am not very bullish on it gaining a lot market share. However now I not less than see that it has actual potential for sure particular niches.
Sharing and different fleet utilization appears to be one of the best use case, since I don’t see it taking off for common customers. I positively see the benefits of hydrogen for a pizza store with a fleet of supply e-bikes that doesn’t need to take care of a tabletop stuffed with charging batteries, or for a scooter sharing operation that doesn’t need the logistical nightmare of a whole bunch or 1000’s of unstable batteries of their warehouse.
However let’s simply say I don’t suppose I’ll be using a hydrogen-powered Trek or Gazelle bike quickly.
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