Linde, an international chemical industry manufacturer headquartered in Munich, Germany. Linde announced the prototype of the electrically power assisted bicycle "Linde H2". It is a "hydrogen bicycle" that uses hydrogen to generate electricity and uses that power to assist cyclists.


Linde's goal with the Linde H2 is to eliminate traditional batteries, which have a short lifespan and are difficult to dispose of, from the power assist system. The Linde H2 is equipped with a fuel cell that uses hydrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere to generate electricity.


The biggest merit of "hydrogen bicycle" is that it does not require time to charge the battery. With a conventional power-assisted bicycle, it usually takes about 3 to 6 hours to charge the battery. But with Linde H2, hydrogen filling is completed in just 6 minutes. The cruising range is longer than that of conventional electrically power assisted bicycles, and it is possible to assist more than 100 kilometers with a single hydrogen filling.


Linde H2 is still in the prototype stage. But Linde is currently in Germany, aiming to install 400 hydrogen stations by 2023. If this is achieved, the commercialization of Linde H2 will be realistic. As Toyota has proposed for the hydrogen vehicle MIRAI, the use of the Linda H2 fuel cell as an emergency power source in the event of a disaster may be used in the future to supply power to home appliances.