Honda reckon their hydrogen fuel cell bikes will be with us in four years

PRODUCTION fuel cell bikes are likely to resemble Honda's FC Stack concept

By Ben Purvis

Honda has announced it will have fuel cell powered motorcycles in production by the end of the decade but we won't be able to buy them for a while after that.
The huge cost of fuel cell technology means that Honda will instead lease the bikes at hugely subsidised rates, giving specially selected riders access to prototype machines worth millions of pounds for around the same cost as buying a normal bike on finance.
Last month, the firm did the same thing with its latest fuel cell car prototype the FCX. Worth an estimated £1.2 million, the FCX has beer) leased to Jon and Sandy Spallino of Redondo Beach, California, for just £250 per month. They'll use it for two years before it goes back to Honda to be ripped apart, allowing engineers to see how it has coped with real world use.
Honda's first fuel cell bike is likely to be similar to the FC Stack concept revealed last summer (above). Looking like a 12 5 cc scooter, the FC Stack is named after Honda's patented fuel cell design also used in the FCX. It's fitted in the centre of the bike, where the engine normally sits, and powers an electric motor inside the swingarm.
The Japanese manufacturer's plan is to hand over the prototype to a public organisation, such as a council or environmental agency, to use before a final production version is decided on for the general public.
Honda says that by 2009 it will have the first of the bikes on lease to customers.

What is a fuel cell?

Fuel cells create power through a chemical reaction that converts hydrogen and oxygen into electricity. The exhaust gas is pure water vapour.
Technically it's a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) and it uses two electrodes, separated by a membrane. The hydrogen electrode separates the hydrogen gas into ions and electrons. The membrane allows the hydrogen Ions to pass to the oxygen electrode, where they combine with oxygen to form water. The electrons can't pass through the membrane and are routed into a circuit as electricity
The cells offer a huge advantage over batteries, as rather than recharge you just re fill the tank (at yet to be created hydrogen filling stations). They're also far lighter and produce much more power for their size.