Development of fuel-cell-powered electric bicycle

The design, fabrication, and testing of a prototype of electric bicycle powered by a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is reported. The fuel-cell system is composed of a 300-W fuel-cell stack, metal hydride canisters, air pumps, solenoid valves, cooling fans, pressure and temperature sensors, and a microcontroller. To reduce cost, all components are commercially available except for the microcontroller, which has been developed to operate the system effectively. The fuel-cell system is installed on a commercial electric bicycle. Results show that the efficiency of the fuel-cell system can reach up to 35%, and the ratio of travel distance to fuel consumption of the prototype electric bicycle is about 1.35 km g(-1) H-2. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.