“Hydrocycle”, the motorcycle for the hydrogen age
If 1 kilogram of hydrogen gives a car a range of (around) 100 kilometers, an H2 tank for the electric drive can also be accommodated in the limited installation space of a motorcycle. It is much more demanding to accommodate a complete fuel cell system in the frame structure, which is required “on board” to convert the hydrogen into electrical energy.
A German-Czech consortium of research institutions and manufacturing companies is now taking on this challenge: By the end of 2025, a drivable motorcycle will be built as a demonstrator that meets the strict European approval standards and certification regulations.
The project partner ČVUT already has many years of experience in building motorcycles with alternative drives
The hydrogen bike is intended to serve as inspiration for the mobility of the future. Due to its agility and compactness, the two-wheeler is interesting for inner-city delivery services and parcel deliverers. It enables CO 2 -neutral mobility and helps reduce noise emissions. The advantage over battery-electric solutions is the greater range and shorter refueling times.
Division of labor
In the Hydrocycle project, the partners from the Czech Republic are working on vehicle development and are driving forward the work packages of vehicle structure, ergonomics and packaging (accommodating the technology in the available installation space). The German project partners are concentrating on the powertrain. The company WätaSwärmetauscher Sachsen GmbH is developing a new generation of fuel cell stack as the basis for the drive train; the Fraunhofer IWU supports with the reference factory.
H2 the development of new manufacturing technologies and the improvement of the stack functionalities. The Chemnitz research institute is also responsible for the dimensioning of the system and the packaging. The IWU is also responsible for a smooth interface between vehicle and fuel cell system development.
Project background
Hydrocycle contributes to the European Union's hydrogen strategy. From 2030 onwards, the EU guidelines call for hydrogen from renewable energies to play a key role in the transport sector so that the Union becomes climate neutral by 2050.
With their project, the project partners Fraunhofer IWU, WätaSwärmetauscher Sachsen GmbH (Olbernhau), 1to1design (Prague), Czech Technical University (ČVUT, Prague) and ÚJV Řež (Husinec) are following a call for funding for joint Czech-Saxon joint projects in the area of sustainable and mobility Transport systems for people and goods.
Text & image credits: Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU
