Intelligent Energy is once again showing off their ENV fuel cell motorbike and this time at the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Summit in the UK. In fact, Intelligent Energy is no rookie when it comes to showing off their demonstration vehicles.
They have been showing off the ENV for 6 years now. Intelligent Energy partnered with Suzuki to show off their Crosscage fuel cell motorcycle in October 2007. In May 2008, Intelligent Energy announced that it was providing the fuel cells for a number of British Black Cabs that would roll out in time for the 2012 Olympics.
Suzuki and Intelligent Energy also partnered to show off their fuel cell motor scooter, the Burgman in October 2009. But, what I would like to see is Intelligent Energy getting off the demonstration train and making one small leap for mankind in the area of commercialization.
I would like to see Intelligent Energy join the ranks of Honda and Mercedes and at least lease some of their vehicles or better yet, do what some of the forklift makers are doing right now and actually SELL their vehicles.
In January 2011, I had talked about the first swappable hydrogen canister station for fuel cell motor scooters being setup in Taiwan. Intelligent Energy should be all over this. And they could be all over the worldwide marketplace where motor scooters are frequently used such as tourist locations.
In fact, why not build a small hydrogen fueling infrastructure that coincides with where the refueling stations for cars are being built? Places like Taiwan, Hawaii, Japan, Los Angeles, Germany and yes even in Intelligent Energy’s own backyard of London would be good candidates for a small scale rollout of their products.
Sell the vehicles, lease the vehicles, hold a lottery for the vehicles, but get them in the hands of consumers and out of the halls of the convention centers. The public doesn’t want 6 years of prototypes and press releases. Instead they want commercial vehicles released for sale. Intelligent Energy why not live up to being as smart as your name implies and put your products in the hands of the people?
And where is the facebook like link ?
It’s at the bottom of every page. Just put your cursor above the ShareThis symbol.
The plethora of options for making hydrogen available is hampering commercialization efforts.
It doesn’t help that Obama is slowing the transition to a hydrogen based transit system by pushing bio fuels and extended range electric vehicles as a solution now.
Hydrogen offers zero emission transportation, but I think few people are aware that even bio fuels are dirty.
A winner is a method of providing hydrogen aboard a fuel cell vehicle that doesn’t impact the cost of the vehicle or supporting infrastructure too much.
Standardization is needed to drive down costs which means that a dominant method of providing hydrogen to a fuel cell vehicle needs to be chosen.
A variable federal gas tax where the cost of fuel is kept stable at around $4/gallon for gaoline and diesel is needed. This will hurt in the short run, but in the long run it will make alternative fuels cost effective and provide funds to
be invested at the federal level into hydrogen refueling infrastructure. This federal investment will reduce risk which will bring the private sector in.
Whether we want to discuss: hydrnol, laser metal hydrides (my favorite), high
pressure hydrogen gas tanks, cryogenic hydrogen liquid, hydrnol, ammonia borane, or anything else, there is one common problem. No method is perfect
in terms of cost, flexibility, and proof of concept. Where laser metal hydrides seem to be the answer there is little information about cost and less still about how “playing” the discs is going to work on rough terrain. Worse, plasma kinetics does not appear to be serious about getting a prototype going before 2015.
Speaking of hydrogen, how do we acquire it? There isn’t seemingly much information about this right now where we are less than 5 years away from
the commercialization of fuel cell vehicles. Can enough hydrogen be acquired to power 270 million vehicles by harnessing the sun somehow?
How much hydrogen comes out of the earth and of that how much can be collected realistically. How much hydrogen can be realistically produced by advanced nuclear power plants? Can hydrogen be collected by ships at sea as they cross the sea? How much hydrogen can be collected in the form of methane? Commercialization of fuel cell vehicles is drawing near, but there seems to not be a blue print for supporting them.
I am 100% agree with you article you have nice ideas about Intelligent Energy is once again showing off their ENV fuel cell motorbike and this time at the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Summit in the UK. In fact, Intelligent Energy is no rookie when it comes to showing off their demonstration vehicles….
Thank you for post…
I would like this site to comment on the hydrogen on demand kits that are filling the Internet.
Is there anything to these claims ?
Can we really make hydrogen gas and run it through our gasoline engines?
Thanks
These kits are controversial. Read this section and decide for yourself:
https://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/index.php/category/hydrogen-gas-savers/