“We are the problem and we have to change,” engineer and artist Gijs Schalkx from The Netherlands says on his official website. He’ll start first: he invented a motorcycle that runs on methane harvested manually from a local pond, a nearly completely sustainable vehicle.
Schalkx calls it the Uitsloot or the Sloot Motor, with the word “sloot” meaning “ditch” in Dutch. It’s the motorcycle that runs on swamp gas, meticulously harvested methane. The motorcycle has a converted Honda GX160 engine from a home generator, with the conversion done by Schalkx himself. On his website (hat tip to Interesting Engineering), Schalkx explains that he drilled a hole into the airbox of the engine to feed the methane. The engine still starts with gas, but it then runs on methane, contained in a balloon encased in glass in the back.
The harvesting part is the most time-consuming. According to the inventor, it takes eight full hours at the pond for a full “tank” of methane, and that is only good for some 20 km (12.5 miles) of riding around. To ensure he doesn’t get stuck when he runs out, the motorcycle also has pedals, so he can pedal himself back for a refill.
The harvesting process is done with help from an overturned container that floats on the water, gathering the naturally occurring methane. To speed up the process, Schalkx puts on his waders and does manual hoeing; the eight-hour “refill” time is accomplished with manual hoeing. Once the container is full, he brings it to shore, connects it to the container on the motorcycle and, with help from a manual bicycle pump, transfers the gas into the balloon.
The process alone would be enough to deter less brave hearts, but Schalkx says his invention is both a critique of today’s so-called sustainable vehicles and an example of what could be done with a bit more thought on the issue of sustainability. It is “a quest to keep the combustion engine alive in a fossil free future,” and a critique of today’s EVs. “Driving an electric car does not mean that you are exempt from the oil circuit on which our society runs,” the inventor says. “Throwing more money at a problem won't solve it, we are the problem and we have to change.”
Here is a video of the Uitsloot and the process it takes to fill it up for what Schalkx calls the best 20-km ride of your life.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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