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Based on a Peugeot Partner Origin van, the H₂Origin zero emissions urban delivery technical demonstrator (that's a mouthful!) has just been unveiled by Intelligent Energy and PSA Peugeot Citroën. The delivery van is powered by electricity and gains additional juice by way of a 10kWh hydrogen fuel cell system from IE. Together, the batteries and fuel cell can offer up a range of 300 kilometers (over 180 miles). In order to accommodate refueling needs, the empty compressed hydrogen tanks can be exchanged with fresh tanks. Without the fuel cell, range would be cut by two-thirds. Full press release after the break.

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Reminding us again just how complex the hydrogen fuel cell is, Prodrive has issued a press release, pasted after the break, regarding a new ECU which it has developed with proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell maker Intelligent Energy (IE). You may remember IE from their ENV fuel cell electric motorcycle and their various collaborations with Suzuki. One of the stated problems that Prodrive was looking to conquer is the cold-starting and operation of hydrogen fuel cells. What they came up with is called the PP150, a specialized ECU suitable for volume production, with a price point of around £250 per unit.

Funding for this venture was provided by the Technology Strategy Board, a business-led executive non-departmental public body established by the U.K. government.

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Last Spring, when Suzuki and Intelligent Energy announced their partnership, we wondered out loud if fuel cell powered-motorcycles were in the offing. What we got was a very cool concept bike at the Tokyo Motor Show called the Suzuki Crosscage, which did in fact use IE's Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) technology. The bike was clearly just a concept, though.

News comes by way of IE today that they have furthered their partnership with Suzuki. Could we finally start to see bikes like IE's ENV on our roadways? "This is an important next step for our collaboration with Suzuki as we move from a very successful concept toward a range of commercially viable fuel cell motorcycles," said Phil Caldwell, director of business development at Intelligent Energy. With those words, we remain hopeful that this investment and collaboration bears water-emitting fruit in short order.

[Source: Intelligent Energy]

Intelligent Energy (IE), known on ABG's pages as the company behind the ENV fuel-cell motorcycle, has announced that they will partner up with Suzuki Motor Corporation on the development of prototype hydrogen fuel-cell motorcycles. Future bikes produced by the partnership will run on Intelligent Energy's proprietary Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel-cells that are billed by IE as having class-leading performance in automotive applications. The PEM design utilises thin metallic bipolar plates, allowing the resultant fuel-cell to be extremely compact and easy to mass manufacture.

Intelligent Energy's Chief Executive Dr Henri Winand was quoted as saying, "As a company, we have a range of leading clean technologies based on proprietary fuel cell and fuel processing systems. We work with key partner companies to integrate our systems into their products. It is well known that Japanese companies are particularly sophisticated and knowledgeable when it comes to fuel cell-based products. We are therefore delighted to announce our new partnership with the Suzuki Motor Corporation."

Analysis: The ENV has clearly proved the viability of fuel-cell powered motorcycles but Intelligent Energy was always going to have to partner up with an existing manufacturer to bring their PEM technology to the market in a meaningful way. This partnership paves the way for a whole new class of zero-emission vehicles on our roads.

Related:

• BBC rides the ENV hydrogen bike, reports production may begin by the end of the year
• Gallery: High quality images of the Scoot - a simple electric scooter in search of a partner
• Video of the ENV fuel cell motorcycle in action

[Source: Intelligent Energy press release]

Regular readers of our site are already familiar with the ENV, the first motorcycle that is fueled by hydrogen. This vehicle has been around in prototype stage for along time, and has been test ridden to death, so I won't go into any details. The general story is this: about 100 miles at 50 miles per hour on electricity generated by the hydrogen fuel cell.

The bit that caught my eye in the story was that a BBC reporter, Richard Westcott, writes that the team behind the ENV is hoping to be in production by the end of the year. Until I see the official word, though, I'll still be skeptical. Here is a link to the video accompanying this story.

Related:

• Video of the ENV fuel cell motorcycle in action
• Two motorcycles that joined the alternative power movement

[Source: Richard Wescott / BBC]