Hydrogen-Powered Bicycle In Curitiba
A bicycle with a motor powered by hydrogen is being tested in Curitiba as an alternative for urban mobility that is pollution-free. Developed by electrical engineer Giovanni Gaspar, the project entered the testing phase on the streets just over a month ago and can attain speeds of up to 35 km/h and has zero emissions.
“In tests I got the bike up to 70 km/h, but for security reasons the engine has a device that limits the speed to 35 km/h,” Gaspar told UOL news.
With a hydrogen cylinder installed in the iron frame to feed a small engine installed on the rear, the vehicle has sufficient fuel to travel between 60 and 80 km.
The creator of the bike says he’s already begun to study the possibility of a public parking garage equipped with a free power source for cyclists. The garage would capture solar energy and rainwater to produce hydrogen through electrolysis, a reaction that generates hydrogen. The engineer says he wants to facilitate a public project for urban mobility for large cities and spread the use of hydrogen bikes for the 2014 World Cup games.
The idea came when Gaspar attended conferences in Japan and Italy about initiatives to improve urban mobility and the quality of life in large urban centers. The ecological bike design is also part of his master’s thesis in mechanical engineering at the UTFPR (Federal Technological University of Paraná).
The bike is one of several other inventions being built at UTFPR, such as two prototype electric cars. Professor Eloy Casagrande, who coordinates the “Green Office” project to develop sustainability initiatives for the university, says that conditions are right for scaled-up production of the car and bike prototypes.
Source: UTFPR
