MIT Students Develop First-of-its-Kind Open-Source Hydrogen Fuel Cell Motorcycle
Key Ideas
- MIT's Electric Vehicle Team creates a pioneering 300bhp hydrogen fuel cell motorcycle for research and educational purposes.
- The motorcycle platform is designed to be open-source, modular, and aimed at showcasing hydrogen's potential in personal mobility.
- The team focuses on documentation and transparency, providing a guidebook to help others replicate or build upon their work.
- Future iterations of the project are planned, emphasizing the role of hydrogen in sustainable transport and addressing the limitations of current electric vehicles.
Students from MIT have developed a groundbreaking 300bhp hydrogen fuel cell motorcycle, emphasizing the potential of hydrogen power in personal mobility. Led by graduate student Aditya Mehrotra, MIT's Electric Vehicle Team embarked on this project to spark conversations around small hydrogen systems and promote infrastructure development. The motorcycle, an open-source platform designed for experimentation and education, passed its track test successfully after a year of meticulous design and assembly. The team, typically focused on electric vehicles, aims to showcase the motorcycle at various international events to raise awareness. The project is not aimed at mass production but emphasizes modularity, allowing components to be easily tested or replaced. MIT's emphasis on documentation and transparency, along with the development of a guidebook, aims to facilitate replication and expansion of their work. The motorcycle features a fuel cell from South Korean company Doosan and is integrated into a modified Ducati frame, showcasing innovative engineering. With future iterations planned, the team envisions a bright future for hydrogen-powered transport, citing the environmental impact of lithium extraction and the limitations of current EV battery technology.