Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Research

Alex Bell and Andres Pacheco are a couple of very clever chaps who have put together a motorbike using a Ballard fuel cell stack for electrical generation. The unit is a Polymer Exchange Membrane (PEM) device which reacts oxygen from the air and pure hydrogen across a membrane to create electricity with a maximum of 1.2 kw (1.6HP) and water vapor as its only bi-product. Hydrogen is ingeniously stored by taking advantage of a chemical reaction involving the loose hydrogen bonding of gas and certain materials. The inside of the storage cylinders are filled with a metal powder consisting of Lathnium, Nickel, and Aluminum. The metal reacts with hydrogen to form a hydride thereby storing large amounts of hydrogen at low pressure in a small volume.

Clever, huh?