"Micro -fuel cell boom" in the 2000s ... In the world of two wheels, there was an attempt to develop fuel cell vehicles.

In the 21st century, "micro fuel cells" attracted attention in the gadget world.

The "fuel cell", which removes electricity from fuel such as hydrogen in a chemical reaction, is a technology that has been pursued since the 19th century more than 100 years ago.In 1932, British Francis Thomas Bacon invented fuel cells using hydrogen and oxygen.This fuel cell technology was also used in the U.S. NASA Apollo Plan in the 1960s and attracted attention.

It is a fuel cell that has a higher efficiency than a "hot engine" like a steam engine or an internal combustion engine, and does not produce heat or noise, but in the 2000s, electrical manufacturers such as Hitachi, Toshiba, Fujitsu, NEC, Casio, and Sony.It became a hot topic at the time that we worked hard on the development of "micro fuel cells".

The purpose is to develop the next -generation power supply of mobile devices such as laptops, such as mobile phones, which were rapidly increasing in demand at the time.Each manufacturer focused on micro -fuel cells as a power supply that enables long -time use than lithium -ion batteries, which are the mainstream of mobile terminal power supply.

Micro -fuel cells are roughly divided into DMFC, which uses methanol as direct fuel, and is directly divided into DMFC = directly methanol fuel cells.It was the latter.

In 2009, Toshiba finally released the mobile fuel cell "Dynario" that adopted the DMFC system.However, due to the power saving of mobile devices in the 2010s, the evolution of control technology, and the improvement of the performance of lithium -ion batteries, the idea that micro fuel cells do not have to be used for power supply is completely became the mainstream.As a result, the micro -fuel cell development boom of the electronics manufacturer has been retired and has reached this.

DMFC car prototyped by Yamaha ... FC06 is 10 million yen!?!?!?!?!?

In the world of 2.4 -wheeled manufacturers, in the 2000s, the development of fuel cells became a hot topic as part of environmental problems.In September 2001, Honda announced that he succeeded in producing and generating ultra -small fuel cells using hydrogen by joint research with Stanford University.At that time, many tech media will be equipped with hydrogen fuel cells on the power supply of Honda's human -type robot "ASIMO" in the future?I wrote it.

(At the moment?) Asimo is not commercialized with hydrogen fuel cells, but Honda still sells four -wheeled FCVs (fuel cell vehicles) using hydrogen fuel cell technology.In addition to Honda's FCX and Clarity Fuel Cell, Toyota and BMW's 4 -wheeled FCVs use hydrogen as fuel, but since around 2000, Yamaha has been researching and developing by many electric manufacturers.We are trying to prototype two -wheeled fuel cells using methanol.

The "FC06", which appeared at the 37th Tokyo Motor Show in 2003, is equipped with a 500W -class DMFC unit that fueled the methanol aqueous solution jointly developed with the battery manufacturer YUASA.It was a mechanism to store electricity generated by fuel cells in the battery, and drive a motor based on the Yamaha electric commuter "Passol" that had already been on the market.

In addition, next -generation accessories such as GPS navigation and backward confirmation functions by camera are adopted.It also featured 300W AC (exchange) output, and also supported outdoor and power supply in the event of a disaster.

The price is not set because it is a reference exhibition, but according to the 2004 published "Basic and Trends of the Latest Fuel Battery that understands the illustrations" (author: fuel cell NPO NPO PEM -DREAM publisher: Hidewa System), FC06 is the FC06.When it comes to selling, it is 10 million yen per car !!No matter how much the development costs of the models that collect the best of the technology at that time, it would be impossible to sell at this high price for moped class vehicles.

Yamaha also exhibits FCV prototypes at the 39th Tokyo Motor Show in 2005.In September 2004, Yamaha got a number for running on public roads on the prototype "FC06 PROT".In September 2005, we signed a contract to lease one FC-Me, which improved the performance, to Shizuoka Prefecture (from September 16, 2005 to the end of March 2006, 105,000 yen per month).It was the first time in Japan to sell the two -wheeled FCV lease.

Suzuki also developed two -wheeled hydrogen fuel cells!What is the future of a two -wheel fuel cell car ...?

In addition, Yamaha exhibited the 3rd generation DMFC car "FC-DII" at the 40th Tokyo Motor Show in the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, along with the "DC-AQEL" of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles."FC-DII" uses Yamaha's unique compact cell stack, which features the highest level of power density in 1kW class, and easy removable lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.The system efficiency of DMFC was 30 % higher than FC-ME.

Just as the electronics manufacturer "Micro -fuel cell boom" retired in the 2010s, Yamaha also continues to make prototypes and products that take the electric "EC" series flow, but the fuel cell vehicle is a fuel cell vehicle.I didn't hear the story about the FC series.

If a micro -fuel cell for mobile devices has succeeded in building a market and the 2010s can be easily obtained anywhere in DMFC methanol fuel, the product version of the FC series utilizing Yamaha's DMFC technology is in the world.It may have spread to.

DMFC's fuel ... For example, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical's "Metamix" has a methanol content of 54%, does not correspond to dangerous substances or poisonous moves, so there is no need to handle it, and storage and transportation do not require notification to government agencies.Easy to handle.There is also an excellent feature that it can be stored for a long time without deterioration due to time, like gasoline.An environmentally friendly DMFC two -wheeled wheel using methanol that is easier to handle than hydrogen.Is it an ant as one of the FCVs of the connection until the arrival of the hydrogen energy society?

Although it is a DMFC that did not spread as a power supply for mobile devices, the DMFC as a stationary emergency power supply and a non -power outage power supply are still sold as a quiet and clean power supply.In a long -term perspective, a hydrogen fuel fuel cell that is focusing on many car manufacturers and energy companies will be promising in the future.However, are EVs and FCVs fighting around the world market?Is there or not the "hydrogen energy society" has come?Also, it is still unpredictable when it will be.

Suzuki started the development of a four -wheel fuel cell vehicle since 2003.From 2006, we developed a fuel cell vehicle for two wheels, and based on the security standards for two -wheeled vehicles under the Road Transport Vehicle Law promulgated and enforced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in 2016, the vehicle model of the "Burgman Fuel cell" is used.Application.With a model certification in August of the same year, he was running on public roads the following year.

Burgman fuel cells use fuel cells using mainstream hydrogen in four wheels, not DMFC.It is a major advantage of Bergman Fuel cells that can share the infrastructure with the four -wheeled hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.In the performance as of 2017, I don't think commercialization will be out of order, but anyway, let's look forward to the next development of fuel cells and two -wheeled vehicles from each manufacturer!