An
Industrial Design Engineering graduate from Delft University of Technology
in the Netherlands has designed and built a working prototype of a scooter,
which can be powered by hydrogen. Crijn Bouman, who graduated for his Master's
degree with credits, designed the Fhybrid scooter for the purpose of fighting
pollution in inner-cities. Industrial designer Bouman: "the look and feel
of the scooter are aimed at selling the clean technology inside".
The scooter has an electric in-wheel
motor that derives its power from a (Li-)ion battery. This battery (primarily
when the scooter is stationary) is charged by a compact fuel-cell system,
which derives its energy from hydrogen (from a tank) and oxygen (from the
air). The battery moreover stores up energy when the scooter brakes. Depending
on the amount of traffic, this so-called regenerating braking system reduces
the hydrogen consumption by 10-20 percent. To use the energy generated
during breaking optimally, the scooter is front-wheel driven.
Apart from being environmentally
friendly, the Fhybrid performs better than regular petrol powered scooters
during test drives. The Fhybrid has a top speed of 65 km/ph, accelerates
faster than regular scooters and can travel approximately 200 km on a full
tank of hydrogen. An additional feature is the parking assistant. The electric
engine can be very precisely controlled when travelling at low speeds,
enabling the driver to park backwards or forwards without having to push
the entire scooter into place.
The Fhybrid is designed to be hydrogen-powered,
but for now the prototype is powered by batteries, with the help of a fuel-cell
simulator that was specially designed for this project. "A special course
and various permits are required to build a hydrogen-powered engine. It
wasn't possible to achieve this during the time period of my graduation
project", Crijn Bouman explained. "The faculty is now trying to assemble
all the necessary means to fully develop the hydrogen-powered scooter."
The Fhybrid's complete drive system
and energy management system were built by Epyon, a TU Delft spin-off company,
of which Bouman is one of the founders, and in partnership with the Delft
Design Institute.

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