Hydrogen-powered TVS e-Scooter In The Works

With manufacturers the world over increasingly focusing on alternative modes of transport, TVS has also chosen to dabble in something new and it seems the marque is en route to creating a hydrogen-powered scooter. 

The patent shows what could be a pair of hydrogen tanks located behind the downtube of the scooter’s frame, while the filler for the hydrogen is located at the front of the scooter, just below its headlight.

A battery is located below the scooter’s footboard and is present here in fuel cell configuration to provide additional performance should the rider demand it, as well as to store energy generated under deceleration. 

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The fuel cell enclosure is located below the scooter’s seat for ease of maintenance, while other components such as the pressure regulator, flow meter and shut-off valve are located further below, near the swingarm pivot. 

While further details aren’t available about the motor, it’ll likely be a hub-mounted one, similar to the 4.4kW unit we’ve seen on the TVS iQube Electric. While the all-electric iQube’s battery needs to be recharged after 140km (in ST variant), a fuel cell version of the scooter could exit a filling station brimmed with hydrogen in minutes. 

That said, one of the chief reasons why hydrogen-powered scooters have still not become very popular is because hydrogen is extremely difficult to store. The small atomic size of the element makes it super tricky to contain it. Hence, it could be a while before we see this scooter in a production-ready avatar.