Issue #238 The Dawning of A Green New Day | Fuel, Cell, Motorcycle, Crosscage, Yet

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Issue #238 The Dawning of A Green New Day

Written by John Campbell
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Sprinkled throughout this issue are thumbnail sketches of New Models, some of which were unveiled at the EICMA motorcycle exhibition in Milan, while others made their debut at the Tokyo show. These events are the traditional venues for catching that rare first glimpse into what is carved in stone for the upcoming model year, and that which is yet to come in the more removed future. All too often they’re simply frustrating insights to what could be, technically-speaking, but what will never see the light of day on a production line because construction costs render the project not viable. These are the so-called concept bikes. For the time being, Suzuki’s Crosscage, profiled briefly on page 46, falls into that concept category. Brought out for the Tokyo Motor Show, the Crosscage seemingly represents the latest example of a company laying the groundwork for minimizing its carbon footprint, and for that very reason it is a bike that ultimately MUST be built. Though Suzuki has yet to issue anything remotely resembling a useful press release on the Crosscage, this much is known—or at the very least widely surmised. (1) A hydrogen fuel cell powers its electric engine, which is mounted in the rear wheel. (2) It features front and rear monoshocks and a unique X-shaped frame as part of the chassis. (3) The Crosscage is a cooperative exercise between Suzuki and Intelligent Energy, the UK’s leading commercial developer of fuel cell technology. These are the only pieces of “hard information” I’m aware of at the time of this writing. The Crosscage is a motorcycle that would theoretically run in complete silence and emit nothing but pure water. Though research and development companies such as Ballard Power Systems have shown that the technology exists to build hydrogen-powered vehicles, so far no one has been able to bring anything to market without the attendant exorbitant price tag. But, it’s not as though they haven’t given it a go. Since 1993, 10 of the top 15 automakers have demonstrated more than 125 vehicles (including 49 fuel cell buses) powered with Ballard fuel cells. During 2003, Ballard supplied fuel cells to six of the top 10 automakers, including Ford, Honda, DaimlerChrysler, and Mitsubishi, to support their existing automotive fleet introductions in the United States, Japan, Singapore and Europe. In nine major European cities and in Iceland and Australia, 33 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses powered with Ballard heavy-duty fuel cell engines are operating on city streets. These buses are carrying passengers in daily service in each city as part of a two-year field trial program. By the end of 2005, the company had expected its customers to have more than 150 Ballard-powered cars, light trucks and buses on the road in 14 different countries. All this information is readily available on Ballard’s corporate website. Of course, it’s academically all very intriguing, commendable, and so forth, but hardly the stuff of affordable mass production. Given all that, the news and information portal, fuelcellworks.com, offers an interesting perspective on the IE/Suzuki collaboration: “The Crosscage represents a huge breakthrough,” says FCW. “By combining Suzuki’s capacity for mass-production and Intelligent Energy’s lightweight, air-cooled fuel cell design, the reality of affordable green transportation moves closer to reality.” This particular science reporter seems to be suggesting that mass production of a completely “green” motorcycle is not just theoretically possible, it’s an actual inevitability when like minds meet and corporate resources are put in harness. Suzuki has the money, I guess, while Intelligent Energy has the technology, and even its own prototype—the ENV bike—which the company has trotted out for public appearances (and select press evaluations) around the United States, Europe and Asia for the past two years. In that time it’s drawn some good reviews from motorcycle magazine testers—who admittedly are in too deep, myself included, when they try to explain the science of Intelligent Energy’s hydrogen fuel cell. The company refers to its energy source as The Core, “A one-kilowatt fuel cell generator which provides power on demand and is hybridized with a lithium-ion battery pack to provide six kilowatts peak load to enhance performance, e.g. under acceleration.” Remarkably, The Core is suitcase-sized, removable, and made to adapt to other mechanisms requiring power—such as your house. But even if mass production were viable, the supporting infrastructure simply isn’t there—not yet. The ENV is capable of about four duty hours between charges. This means that every 160 kilometres of urban riding would necessitate a fill-up. Try getting the ENV tanked up at your nearest Petro-Can. The lack of infrastructure will remain a stumbling block while the system is so entirely set up to service internal combustion. But Suzuki and its various partners aren’t the only ones working around the notion of alternate energy vehicles. Yamaha, for example, also had something different on display at the Tokyo Motor Show: the Tesseract, a four-wheeler powered by an electric hybrid liquid-cooled V-Twin. The Vectrix Electric Superbike, said to be capable of 125 mph, was unveiled at the Milan show. Australia’s World Solar Challenge was the setting for a group of engineering students in Adelaide to introduce their Biobike, a motorcycle designed to burn biodiesel, which can be made from recycled vegetable oils and animal fats. My personal favourite though is the KillaCycle—which owner and developer, Bill Dube, calls “the world’s quickest electric motorcycle.” There’s something to his claim. Set up in dragbike trim, the 653-lb. KillaCycle is powered by 374 volts of electricity stored in 1210 “nano-phospate” batteries that together weigh just under 200 lbs., yet produce 480 hp. Two DC motors pull a direct chain drive to the rear wheel, and recently driver Scott Pollacheck made an 8.083 sec./163 mph run at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colorado. Each run down the strip used about seven cents worth of electricity; the unit recharges in under four minutes; and the bike is capable of moving from zero to 60 mph in 0.97 seconds. Well, if the KillaCycle represents the dawning of a new day, I guess I’m okay with that. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.