An e-folding bike with a hydrogen drive? – This is what the Chinese bike rental company Youon wants to bring to the market. And not just hypothetically. Appropriate models should already be in the starting blocks.
The Chinese bicycle manufacturer Youon is not the first to want to bring a fuel cell folding bike onto the market. However , in contrast to the Dutch competition, the planned e-bike model is foldable and compact. According to the ChinaDaily news portal , Youon’s H-Bike is expected to go into series production as early as March 2023. It is currently possible to produce 50,000 hydrogen-powered bicycles a year. Youon wants to increase its production capacity by 2025 so that it can produce 200,000 wheels per year.
YOUON: THE HYDROGEN BIKE IS IN THE STARTING BLOCKS
Youon’s hydrogen cell bicycle is said to be able to travel at speeds of up to 24 km/h. Since the hydrogen fuel cell takes up a lot of space, the H-Bike seems to take some getting used to at first glance. Youon has not given any information on the range , the tank volume and the weight so far. The H-Bike is to be equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell and a low-pressure hydrogen storage tank, which are installed below the saddle and the luggage rack. The special thing about hydrogen cells is that they last longer than lithium batteries. They also protect the environment. Because the electricity that comes from the socket to charge the battery of conventional e-bikes is far from being environmentally friendly, according to the eBikeNews magazine. The company advertises its H-bike as having a longer service life than an e-bike and at the same time as being environmentally friendly. However, this is only the case if the bike is powered by green hydrogen.
E-BIKE: WITH THE BIKE TO THE GAS STATION?
According to the manufacturer, large company premises would be particularly good locations for the hydrogen bike. To do this, however, they must have their own infrastructure for refueling with hydrogen. Despite everything, refueling the bike is the real advantage, because filling up takes less time than charging a battery. The gas could be obtained on the company’s own premises by means of electrolysis. If the energy for the electrolysis comes from solar or wind power, the use of hydrogen bicycles is climate-neutral, the company says .
