The latest novelty in the clean energy field comes, needless to say, from the Far East, where Japanese firm Iwatani has just presented its hydrogen bicycle, which uses a fuel cell to generate approximately 60 Watts of power.

The fuel used to power it is liquid hydrogen, which is in turn used to charge a Li-ion battery, responsible for supplying the necessary energy to generate motion. At the current stage, the bicycle is being tested within the Osaka Kansai airport, where it is used by staff to move from one terminal to the other of the huge Japanese airport, famous for being built on an artificial island.

On a full battery, the bicycle can travel for around 45 kilometers, roughly the equivalent of approximately 3 hours of operation. Charging is started by inserting a liquid hydrogen cartridge, with a 0.25 liter capacity, in its slot placed above the bicycle’s rear wheel.

A valve would then reduce the pressure generated by liquid hydrogen, to optimize its flow towards the PEFC fuel cell, which generates a current of approximately 30-35V, which in turn is reduced by a converter until it reaches 26V, necessary to charge the Li-ion battery.

Currently, its creators are studying solutions to increase the engine’s output power, which may not be enough in case of particularly difficult conditions such as a long uphill road or so.

For this reason, at the moment a public release date has not been planned yet, and the bicycle might hit our roads only when the problem is satisfactorily solved, allowing us to face the traffic without polluting the air, saving energy and also attracting curious or envious looks from fellow car drivers stuck in a queue!