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 Concidering that hydrogen fuel cells work perfectly well, the only problem being the difficulty in storing the hydrogen, which takes up so much space for so little hydrogen.

 I thought concidering the fuel efficiency of a scooter maybe its possible to actually run one of a hydrogen fuel cell with the current technology.  You would probably lose all your underseat storage for the space needed for the hydrogen but hey maybe it would work.

 Maybe im just being a bit crazy (it has been known to occur)

So

1. Does anyone know anything in general about if anyone has had a go at doing it?

2. Any general thoughts?

3. Im going to have a look on the net in the meantime as atm it was just a thought and I hadnt done any proper research into it.

4. I dont actually know what im talking about I was just thinking it
 

I like your train of thought. Keep going with it, let it run it's course.

my guess is the technology is still too expensive.

hydrogen isn't exactly cheap to isolate, and getting hydrogen isn't cheap either.

thats why fossil fuels are still so dominant.

cheap to obtain, there is (used to be) an abundance of it, our motor technology adapts well to it.

It'll happen, but probably not for scooters for a while yet, i'm guessing they'll do it for army, large companies, household goods, cars, bikes

possibly in that order.

 Technology is almost there not too expensive, you can get hydrogen just by sticking two wires in water and from the negative end hydrogen bubbles are made and from the positive end oxygen bubbles are made.  Did it in high school with a 12 volt DC power pack.

Basically when you put them back together in the required circumstance  they release plenty of  energy the only by product being water.

 There are also some other problems but they will be ironed out easily in the next 5-10 years/

The major problem as I stated before is the storage problems of hydrogen,  because its molecular mass is so little you cant get alot of it in a small space but it still takes up relatively the same amount of space as larger elements, pretty much everything (hydrogen is the smallest one).  I think what im trying to say is it has a very low density.  So if you stuck it on a car you would get lets say 50k's of one full tank maybe even less at the current fuel efficiencies of them.  (I dont know the exact figure). 

 
The fuel efficiency on a scooter is 40km/L at the least. On average on a car about 9 if your lucky.  As you all know i am sure.

So taking all this into account i was thinking it might be possible to strap one on too a scooter and see how it goes.  Just for kicks ofcourse mainly cos you cant refuel it wherever you like, and there is no support.  And i was just wondering if someone has had a go at it.  As i know plenty of weird stuff done to scooters like the one covered in solar panels with two giant solar wings.

uniscooter13:

you can get hydrogen just by sticking two wires in water and from the negative end hydrogen bubbles are made and from the positive end oxygen bubbles are made.

It would be more efficient to have a battery electric scooter/vehicle. The amount of energy required to electrolyse the hydrogen from water (as you've pointed out is not a complex thing to do) is far more than just storing the energy in a battery to generate the same amount of electrical output to power an electric motor. A fuel cell system in a vehicle would most likely be powering an electric motor. You could also use hydrogen to power in internal combustion engine (like BMW has done in a 7 series), but internal combustion engines are nowhere near as efficient as electric motors.

The problem in the past is that the battery technology has not been up to the task of delivering high energy density and/or quick recharge time. It only takes 5 minutes to fill up at the petrol station and, until recently, batteries did not exist where you could "fill it up" (recharge it) in a similar amount of time. You need to keep in mind that hydrogen is not a source of energy, it is merely an energy carrier.

moollar:

You need to keep in mind that hydrogen is not a source of energy, it is merely an energy carrier.

 ..... I thought energy sources and energy carriers are the same thing.  And ofcourse its more efficient i was just thinking of the possibility of the sake of it being possible.

Thanks scootanut but im just thinking about it atm, I dont have the money or the knowledge to pull something like that off,  Maybe in two years. 

uniscooter13:

And ofcourse its more efficient i was just thinking of the possibility of the sake of it being possible.

Yeah, it's possible alright. I think the hardest part would be finding a suitable fuel cell. Would be fun to try it out though!  

Sorry if I came across as dissing your idea (would love to be involved with a project like that myself if I had the opportunity). I just know there are some misconceptions about fuel cells being the holy grail of transport flying around all over the place..... 

Oh energy source and energy carrier only really matter when you look at the sustainability of the fuel type..... you can always charge hydrogen but you cant charge petrol.  (I looked it up and found) 

moollar:

I just know there are some misconceptions about fuel cells being the holy grail of transport flying around all over the place.....

Lol i know that, the point of it being so good though is that it has no harmfull byproducts but as for explosive power i dont think anything will beet petrol in a while. 

Yeah the fuel cell bit is the hardest one i reckon its not like you can find one at the tip.  As for dissing my idea i am thoroughly used to it although it is nice to have someone agree once in a while. 

Did some research on the internet the only real challenge for doing it is ofcourse managing the amount of space you have in a scooter (and/or vehicle) and i think connecting it too an electric motor and calculating required power usage and your range you want on the tank