THE BRADLEY REPORT
THE BRADLEY REPORT
Kawasaki hydrogen motorcycle prototype
By Ben Purvis
Back in 2022 , Kawasaki showed design drawings for a proposed hydrogen-powered sports tourer as well as a prototype hydrogen combustion engine based on its 998 cc supercharged ' H2 ' four-cylinder . But even so , it was a surprise to see a real prototype of the bike take to the
stage during the company ' s Group Vision 2030 Progress Report Meeting . The debate over hydrogen ' s future as a fuel - whether for fuel cells that use it to generate electricity or in more conventional combustion engines - is a hotly debated topic at the moment . Some car makers , most notably Toyota , is throwing its weight behind hydrogen , and Kawasaki , while at the forefront of Japanese companies when it comes to electric and hybrid motorcycles , is also a vocal proponent of hydrogen . Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe , it ' s highly flammable and when burnt it combines with oxygen to form water . But there are issues . Most of Earth ' s hydrogen is already tied up in water and extracting it is an energyintensive process , requiring a lot of electricity . Once extracted , hydrogen ' s tiny molecules and lack of density make it hard to store and transport . Kawasaki ' s involvement with hydrogen goes well beyond the motorcycle arm of the business , though , with the company also involved in refining low-quality ' brown ' coal into hydrogen , and in 2020 , Kawasaki ' s shipbuilding division launched the Suiso Frontier - the world ' s first liquified hydrogen carrier ship , able to carry hydrogen in a cryogenically cooled state at -253 degrees C , making it 800 times as dense as in its normal gaseous state . Kawasaki ' s prototype hydrogen bike uses a specially developed version of the supercharged four from the H2 range , modified to add direct fuel injection so the hydrogen can be added to the combustion chamber after the intake valves have closed . That is essential , as is supercharging , to create an engine with power on a par with conventional petrol engines . The other big problem with hydrogen is clear to see from Kawasaki ' s prototype - it ' s the volume of space that the gas takes up . While it ' s more energy-dense than petrol in terms of weight , hydrogen is far less energydense in terms of volume , so even when it ' s compressed to around 700 bar ( 10,000 psi ) you need a large tank to get much range . Those panniers on Kawasaki ' s prototype aren ' t for luggage : they ' re packed with swappable hydrogen canisters . Swappable canisters are one option when it comes to refuelling because , of course , hydrogen can ' t just be poured into a tank - it needs high pressures and low temperatures , so swapping pre-filled canisters is a safer alternative to refuelling a builtin tank . The hydrogen prototype is still clearly a long way from being a production machine - there isn ' t the infrastructure to support such a bike even if it was available for sale - but in the context of the recent EU 2035 law changes , it ' s a technology demonstrator that shows how motorcycles might evolve in the future . Especially if hydrogen gets a foothold in the car market and batteries can ' t be made compact and light enough to create a highpowered , long-range motorcycle that can replace today ' s petrol machines .
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