This Hydrogen Goop Could One Day Power Scooters and Motorcycles
Instead of gasoline and diesel, it might one day be possible to just unload a cartridge of gray, goopy paste into the fuel tank of your e-scooter, motorcycle, or even potentially your car. At least, that’s what researchers at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (IFAM) are hoping.
The goop is called POWERPASTE and is envisioned as a safer, more practical way to use hydrogen as a potential fuel source for green vehicles. The problem is that hydrogen, particularly in a gaseous form, can be volatile, and while hydrogen fuel cells have been tested in cars, the pressure involved in refueling makes it impractical for smaller forms of transportation. Plus, you know, having to build out yet another alternative fueling station network for battery-powered electric vehicles is hard enough.
The paste itself is a mixture of magnesium powder and hydrogen, which then