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What is your vision of the future of high speed transport? Jetpacks perhaps? Driverless pods, bullet trains, scram jets?
Well according to Dr Peter Markus, a former Mercedes-Benz and Porsche engineer, it is an enclosed hybrid motorcycle capable of 340mph and Lucerne to London in an hour and a half. Its maker intends it as a long-distance commuter for a world in which city transport is provided by solar powered electric vehicles.
The Acabion GTBO looks remarkably like a 1950s Bonneville Speed Week contender, often fashioned from B-52 drop tanks, but its specifications sound bang-up-to-date. An electric motor and 1.3-litre turbocharged petrol unit together produce a scarcely credible 750bhp making the GTBO capable of 100mph in first gear. Hitting the triple tonne takes 30 seconds and top speed is 340mph. But don’t think the GTBO has run out of steam; that is simply the point at which the electronics rein things in – 330mph is achieved on half throttle. A low kerb weight and very slippery shape makes it efficient as well as fast; fuel economy at 100mph is said to be 100mpg.
At a Veyron’s top speed of around 250mph, the GTBO can still achieve 25mpg and unlike the Bugatti, the GTBO actually has some luggage space. There is accommodation for two and steering is by motorcycle style handlebars although with such a lengthy wheelbase, handling would be interesting to say the least; the two small drogue wheels retract at anything above around town speeds. Although simply intended as an awareness builder for Dr Markus’ ideas for future transport solutions, the GTBO is fully functional and anyone willing to part with £1.4 million and wait three years can have one. The bit we like best is the tail – what other machine gives a V-sign to the car it just overtook?
Vision of the future or sheer fantasy? What do you think?
Not sure; it looks a bit Dan Dare meets Buck Rogers meets Hayabusa. Hmmm…let me think about this one…
Well with “Big Irons” now being capable of whats approaching 3 times the maximum speed limit as are the latest ‘normal’ Super Cars one must wonder what the future holds. Several times in the past legislation has tried to put a limit on either BHP or Max speed where as manufacturers continue to push the envelope.The way that I see it is this, if developments expand the horizon, certain elements wash back down into what become “standard” machinery. If I think back the 500 Suzuki I owned was capable of a claimed 115 MPH Max with 44BHP and I remember it averaged 30MPG, as we know modern 500’s will do 115MPH and do return twice the MPG. If developments are allowed to continue machinery can only become more fuel efficient. So if someone wishes to claim what appear to be outlandish MPH and MPG figures good luck to them in achieving their goal as any developments may impact on “standard” machinery once again. Yet again what are your views?.
I think the industry will have to come up with a viable new means of power for bikes (and cars) within the next twenty years. But it must at least match petrol for its ease of use, distribution network etc. Hydrogen fuel cells anyone?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fuelcell.shtml
Fuel Cell Motorbike to Hit U.S. Streets
John Roach
for National Geographic News
The world’s first purpose-built hydrogen-powered bike could be fitted with an artificial “vroom” because of worries its silence might be dangerous.
A prototype of the motorbike, which could cost more than $8,300 (£4,500), was unveiled in London on Tuesday.The problem with the “fuel cell” bike, which produces no polluting emissions, is that it is too quiet.
But anti-noise campaigners said they welcomed the prospect of a motorbike without the usual excruciating roar.
For their part, manufacturers said the fake engine noise device, which could be switched off, would help alert road users.
The motorbike, known as an Emissions Neutral Vehicle (ENV), has a top speed of 50mph (80km/h), a range of at least 100 miles (160km) and can run continuously for four hours before the fuel cell needs recharging.
Its water-vapour emissions are so clean that they are drinkable, according to its designers.
Mobile energy source
But with a noise emission equivalent to an everyday home computer, motorcycle enthusiasts thought the “exhilaration” factor was missing.
“They can add all the noise they want, it will still lack the va-va-voom serious motorcyclists look for,” Jeff Stone of the British Motorcyclists Federation told the BBC.
Concerns were raised that the motorcycle was too silent and might not be noticed by other traffic and pedestrians.
Harry Bradbury, chief executive of the bike’s British manufacturers Intelligent Energy, said: “What we are doing is introducing flexibility into it, so that you can have ambient noise that is tolerable – low-level noise sufficient for safety reasons – but which can be switched off when desired.”
Peter Wakeham, director of the Noise Abatement Society, who said motorbikes were among the worst noise offenders, welcomed the idea of a quiet bike.
“But it kind of defeats the purpose of designing a silent bike only to then add an artificial noise device,” he said.
Dr Bradbury said the bike’s detachable briefcase-size cell filled with high pressure hydrogen, or “core”, could eventually be used as a mobile energy source, with the same cell used to power different objects.
He said the prospect of producing mobile hydrogen energy from a variety of sources, including crops such as soya or sugar cane, could benefit remote communities or developing countries, where large electric grids were not economically viable.
From
https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4353853.stm
August 2, 2005
A sleek, almost silent, nonpolluting fuel cell-powered motorcycle is set to begin gliding down U.S. streets by the end of 2006.The bike is dubbed the ENV (pronounced “envy”), short for Emissions Neutral Vehicle. The London-based company Intelligent Energy decided to develop the bike itself after years of cool reception to its fuel cell technology from manufacturers.
The motorcycle has a top speed of 50 miles an hour (80 kilometers an hour) and can run for 100 miles (160 kilometers) or up to four hours on a tank of compressed hydrogen. A fill-up costs about four dollars (U.S.).
The fuel cell “separates the hydrogen atom into protons and electrons, and the electrons are then collected to form an electric current to power the motor,” Eggleston explained. “The protons recombine with the oxygen in the air that’s also flowing through the fuel cell and is then expelled as water vapor.”
Electricity produced by the fuel cell is routed to a stack of batteries and an electric motor, which provides the bike’s propulsive power. A cooling fan emits the fuel cell’s only noise
Intelligent Energy’s fuel cell, called the Core, generates a kilowatt of electricity. By pairing the cell with a battery pack, the bike achieves a maximum load of six kilowatts to provide added punch during acceleration.
Eggleston notes that the Core is detachable from the bike and can be used to power a home or anything else, as long as a hydrogen supply is available.
Cell for the Future?
NASA embraced fuel cell technology in the 1960s to power spacecraft, but fuel cells have largely eluded the general marketplace.
High material costs, such as those of platinum catalysts (which facilitate the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen), have prevented widespread commercialization of fuel cells, said Douglas Nelson. Nelson is a mechanical engineer and director of the Center for Automotive Fuel Cell Systems at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg.
However design refinements are beginning to lower fuel cell costs, Nelson says. “People are getting better and using less and less platinum, and membrane costs have come down too,” he said, adding that mass production would further reduce costs.
Nelson has not seen the ENV but is familiar with the concept. He says the biggest hurdle Intelligent Energy must clear to successfully sell their technology is a lack of hydrogen infrastructure—gas pumps, if you will.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. But the element is usually found as part of other compounds, such as fossil fuels, plant material, and water.
Canisters of pure hydrogen are readily available from hydrogen producers. But roadside hydrogen stations are few and far between.
To overcome this hurdle, Intelligent Energy is currently developing devices called reformers that extract hydrogen from biodiesel fuels (typically made from vegetable oils or animal fats) and ethanol (generally made from grain or corn). The units would sell for around U.S. $1,500 and could produce enough hydrogen to fill up the ENV for about 25 cents per tank, Eggleston said.
The process, he added, contributes no more atmospheric emissions than plant-based raw materials of biodiesel or ethanol would emit if left to rot on the ground.
“So you can get on the ENV motorbike and, for a quarter, do one hundred miles of silent, emissions-free biking,” Eggleston said. “That to me is a compelling thing.”
From
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0802_050802_fuelcellcycle_2.html
ENV makes no more noise than a home computer and emits only heat and water.
Users have compared riding the nearly silent motorbike to skiing, sailing, surfing, and glider flying.
“If you go for a ride in the countryside, as you ride through it, you can smell the countryside, hear the birds singing, and you are not disturbing nature,” Eggleston said. “Birds will not fly out of the way because they are terrified of the noise.”
Intelligent Energy plans to sell the motorbike for between U.S. $6,000 and $8,000. The company believes the ENV will appeal to both urban commuters and recreational riders.
Core Technology
At the heart of the hydrogen-fueled motorbike is a compact, proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The cell converts the chemical energy of hydrogen and an oxidant (in this case, oxygen) to generate electricity.
Air ducts in the ENV’s handlebars supply the fuel cell with oxygen, while hydrogen stored in a pressurized bottle serves as the gas tank. The fuel cell itself is composed of layers of metal plates fitted with membranes and electrodes.
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