Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter Heads to UK

Don’t get all excited yet, as Suzuki’s machine will not go on sale, but it will be showcased in London’s Living Room, City Hall, ahead of fleet tests in the UK to begin. First presented at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, the Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter builds on the Crosscage fuel cell motorbike unveiled in 2007.

The scooter is equipped with a 70MPa hydrogen tank, the highest-pressure tank used on a bike thus far. The tank can be re-fueled in a few minutes and gives a riding range of 350km comparable to a conventional Burgman scooter.

“I am incredibly excited by the Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter. It's a fantastic piece of kit which shows how we can combat climate change without all having to wear hairshirts. This scooter, which produces nothing but water, is a triumph of human ingenuity. I hope Londoners will dump their 20th century motorcycles and buy one built for the 21st century,” Chair of the London Hydrogen Partnership and London's Deputy Mayor for policing, Kit Malthouse, said at the opening event at London's City Hall.

The first public road tests of the Suzuki Burgman will be conducted initially at Loughborough. These will be extended to controlled fleet tests in cities such as London, where zero emission vehicles such as a fuel cell scooter have the greatest initial potential.

“Clean fuel cell engine powered motorcycles are designed for the real world and can be widely available to a large global market in the near future,” Henri Winand, CEO at Intelligent Energy, said in a release. “Fuel cell vehicles in general have entered a period of fleet tests, and our two companies will soon be releasing details of the first public road testing and demonstration of the Burgman Fuel Cell Scooters, which will begin in the UK later this year.”