LAVO Cargo e-bike on hydrogen
We have known about refueling on hydrogen for some time. Something like 200 motorists refuel on hydrogen. Now this “clean” fuel is also coming to the LAVO Cargo e-bike.
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Hydrogen, clean or not?
Hydrogen gas is almost non-existent on Earth. Just about all hydrogen on Earth is bound in water or hydrocarbons. If you want to refuel pure hydrogen, you have to go to Jupiter. Or the sun. That is of course flying a bit far.
That is why we make hydrogen from water using electricity, or from natural gas. Of course, that electricity has to be generated. This often happens with fossil fuels. And natural gas is also a fossil fuel.
That is why you cannot simply say that hydrogen is clean. Only hydrogen made with green electricity is really clean. So why hydrogen? Actually for two reasons. It is very energy-tight, and a hydrogen engine only emits harmless water vapour.
LAVO Cargo e-bike on hydrogen, emission-free cargo bike for cities
That makes the hydrogen engine very attractive. Governments have committed themselves to ambitious climate goals. For example, municipalities will ban all fossil fuel-consuming vehicles from many European city centers by 2024 at the latest.
From 2030, all petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned, even outside the cities. The reason that the Dutch designers of MOM Studio have designed the LAVO Cargo e-bike in collaboration with the Australian LAVO. This emission-free cargo bike is a godsend in city centers. And because hydrogen is very energy-dense, this bike can also last for a very long time without being refueled.
LAVO: hydrogen filling station at home
Do you have to refuel? No problem, a matter of connecting and topping up a hydrogen tank. This hydrogen is guaranteed to be clean, because you produce it yourself, using the LAVO Home Hydrogen system. With electricity from your own solar panels. You also drive for free. The Home Hydrogen system works with metal hydrides, which means that you can store five times as much energy per kilo as a battery. Instead of a battery of 6 kilos, you place a hydrogen tank of 1.2 kilos.
Energy storage in hydrogen battery
So it seems that this cargo bike is mainly intended as a publicity stunt to persuade more Australians and others to invest in LAVO’s (pricey) package. This is not cheap with around 30,000 Australian dollars (approx. € 20,000 at the time of writing this article). It is a unique piece of technology with which you are indeed working sustainably in one go. Because with the more than 40 kWh that the LAVO system can store, you can continue without sun for a few days.
For the time being, this bicycle is not yet for sale in the Netherlands. But what is of course possible is to buy an electric cargo bike. And they are actually even better. You can also charge this via your own solar panels, or of course with green electricity. Good electric cargo bikes are, for example, those from Batavus and Gazelle.
