Have you heard about the ENV yet? It's pronounced like
"envy" and stands for Emissions Energy Vehicle.
After many years of testing, Intelligent Energy of London
has developed a motorcycle-like vehicle that shows lots of promise. The ENV was
introduced in early 2006 and has shown great promise by being embraced by the
public.
The technology used in this vehicle is a fuel cell. For the
technology-minded, it uses a proton exchange membrane fuel cell. The cell
converts hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity. In short, the fuel cell
takes the protons and electrons from the hydrogen atom and this forms an
electric current.
This electricity is then fed to a series of batteries which
powers an electric motor. This gives the bike its power to run. The only noise
emitted is from a cooling fan.
For the technology-minded, there is some fascinating usage
of greatly available resources (hydrogen is the most abundant element). For
many of us, though, all we are interested is: does it work?
In short, the answer is a resounding yes.
The motorcycle will top out at about 50 miles an
hour. True, not freeway speeds, but not everyone has a need to travel at high
speeds. And it will run for up to 100 miles or about four hours between
fill-ups.
Now this is still a long way from giving many of us all the
benefits of our gas-guzzlers. But, it's a terrific start. After all, if this
technology is available for a motorcycle, how far behind is the ability to
power the SUV?
Another nice advantage to the ENV technology is the quiet
operation. A nice quiet ride through the countryside can be just that: quiet.
And, who's going to miss the smelly emissions we get from our gas and diesel
engines?
The cost for being the "envy" of your
neighborhood? Intelligent Energy says that it will sell the bike for somewhere
between $6,000 and $8,000 (US).
Maybe these high fuel costs are going to result in something
positive after all.
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