Looks like green transportation is starting to catch more and more, as we have been able to see several manufacturers demoing or introducing various electric bikes and such. This time, from the Japanese company Iwatani, comes a hybrid model. What would you normally think of when hearing Hydro Bike? You’d probably be thinking about a bike that floats on water, but the maker wanted to defy that thought so it made its model hydrogen powered.

The company has stated that the 31 kilogram and 156 cm bike can reach an assisted travel range of up to 72 kilometers. I said hybrid and they say assisted travel range because, aside from the hydrogen cartridges, the bike also has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery on board, with 24V current and 4Ah capacity that powers an electric motor when you run out of hydrogen.

The system of the bicycle automatically switches to the electrical motor when the hydrogen cartridge gets empty. The cartridge comes in 80 nl volume, sold by the same company, and needs to be placed by the user in the small tank behind the saddle. The design of the bicycle is not much, as you can see from the small picture, but why would one regard design that much since this bike would carry you around town and is sure not to run out of juice, one way or another. As a bonus for the green keens out there, the hydrogen-powered electric bike from Iwatani has a CO2 emission equal to zero. That's right, it doesn't affect the environment in any way.

Iwatani has said it is planning to conduct the first practical tests at the Kansai International Airport near Osaka, starting today. The bad news is that it has never said whether this bike will ever reach mass-production, but did announce something about field tests in the near future.


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