CQ27_FINAL_SPREADS (1)

deliver an entirely new
consumer fuel is a considerable
hurdle, overcoming which will
require coordinated effort. With
the range of the cells limited
to approximately 150km, there
is a real need to recharge
or exchange them regularly.
Recharging a cell only takes
about ten minutes, but there is
no existing convenient network
of recharge stations. The vision
of us each commuting on our
LAVO bike, then swapping
the empty fuel cell for one we
prepared earlier from our own
hydrogen storage tank, with
fuel we have created using
electricity generated by our
own solar panels, shows how
far the bike is from general
availability. The capital cost of
all the hardware required to
produce the hydrogen makes
the cost and obtainability of the
bike alone largely irrelevant at
present.
But the fact that this LAVO
bike and this hydrogen cell
technology do exist prompts us
to have a conversation about
what kind of world we all want
to live in and what part we can
all play in achieving it. These
may well offer us one viable
option which, with the support
of businesses and governments,
could see meaningful change
in how we lower emissions and
reduce our carbon footprint.
The Betamax tale might warn
that important technological
advances should not always
be left in the hands of us mere
consumers. Henry Ford is
said once to have proclaimed,
“If I’d asked them what they
wanted they would have told
me faster horses” – although
the irony that Ford is probably
responsible for kicking off this
whole global car obsession is
not lost on me.
Over the past couple of Covidimpacted
years, we have seen
many interventions around the
globe where governments and
local authorities took radical
decisions to reduce or remove
city centre access to motorized
vehicles. Seeing for the first
time the positive impact of
reduced emissions, many now
do not want a return to how
things used to be. Indeed, it can
be argued that authorities need
to act to prevent future lawsuits
being brought by families of
people whose health is severely
impacted by pollution from cars.
Sooner or later every city in
every nation is going to have to
tackle the issue of switching to
more environmentally friendly
transport options. It remains to
be seen if the green hydrogen
cell format will win through
eventually and become adopted
by every home as standard.
Currently, that feels a long way
off. What we do know already
is that the first hydrogen bike in
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