MIT team creates open-source hydrogen fuel cell motorcycle

The Electric Vehicle Team has designed a motorcycle powered by H2 that can be built by riders.

The Electric Vehicle Team at MIT has created a hydrogen fuel cell motorcycle and designed it on a two-way open-source platform.

The vehicle has swappable parts including its engine, making it much easier to maintain and repair.

The hydrogen fuel cell motorcycle is designed to use an engine and body parts that can be easily swapped out, so it will be simpler to repair, maintain and even experiment on than a comparable vehicle built with its own unique parts.

The MIT team will be publishing its plan online so that riders will be able to build their own versions of the motorcycle. The vehicle built by the team has already undergone its own full test-track demonstration, which took place in October 2023.

There were about a dozen MIT students on the team that made the hydrogen fuel cell motorcycle.

According to the team, the H2 motorcycle wasn’t designed with competitions or races in mind but was instead created as a machine to be presented at a number of different conferences and other similar events.

The team first started its work on the vehicle in January 2023 and unveiled it for the first time in October 2023 at the Hydrogen Americas Summit. More recently, the team placed it in the spotlight at CES 2024. In May, the H2 motorcycle will travel to the Netherlands where it will be shown off at the World Hydrogen Summit.

Cutting edge technology in a 1999 frame

Many of the components used by the team when creating their hydrogen fuel cell motorcycle were donated by industry sponsors. This included the fuel cell itself. The first few tests the vehicle underwent were on a dynamometer (a device like a treadmill for small vehicles) instead of a real road.

While the team waited for their fuel cell to arrive from Doosan in South Korea, the team used an electric battery to provide the necessary power. They used the frame from a 1999 motorcycle and while some custom parts were used, they focused on including as many swappable components as possible. The construction and testing took place in Building N51 at MIT.

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Page 1 of 7

Who discovered the hydrogen element in 1766?

Henry Cavendish Robert Boyle Christian Friedrich Schonbein

Page 2 of 7

What country uses the most hydrogen energy?

united states hydrogen use United States China hydrogen use China Germany hydrogen use Germany

Page 3 of 7

What's the Guinnes World Record for a hydrogen fuel car's mileage range on a single tank of hydrogen?

629 miles 489 miles 845 miles

Page 4 of 7

How many miles of hydrogen pipelines are currently operating in the United States?

300 miles 1600 miles 2800 miles Zero Hydrogen Pipelines

Page 5 of 7

Is a fuel cell car considered to be an electric vehicle?

Yes No

Page 6 of 7

What are the many ways to store hydrogen?

Liquified Salt Caverns Compressed Material based like ammonia All of the above

Page 7 of 7

Which of the following statements best describes why hydrogen is considered non-toxic and dissipates quickly?

Hydrogen is heavier than air, causing it to spread slowly and remain concentrated. Hydrogen is lighter than air, allowing it to rise and disperse rapidly in the atmosphere. Hydrogen is chemically inert, preventing it from reacting with other substances in the air. Hydrogen is soluble in water, making it easy to dissolve and remove from the environment.