Hydrogen could replace gasoline in motorcycle racing: Kawasaki team owner

Hydrogen is expected to replace gasoline as fuel for world championship motorcycle racing in five to 10 years as the industry steps up efforts to curb harmful emissions on the environment, the owner of a Kawasaki motorcycle racing team said Jan. 19.

Each driver in the world championship motorcycle racing currently uses about 1,500 liters of gasoline/year, with a global total of about 100 drivers, Manuel Puccetti, owner of the three-driver Kawasaki Puccetti racing team, told S&P Global Platts at the Rosatom Week meeting at Expo 2020 in Dubai. Puccetti had been speaking about his team adopting Rosatom composite materials based on carbon fiber for its bikes and was asked about hydrogen's potential in motorcycles.

As world championship motorcycle racing moves toward electricity-run bikes, hydrogen fuel is likely to follow next, Puccetti told the meeting.

Hydrogen is already being adopted in cars, with Toyota, renewable hydrogen company Everfuel and Danish taxi company DRIVR announcing in January an agreement to scale up the hydrogen taxi fleet in Copenhagen. The five-year collaboration aims to grow the city's fleet of Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell taxis to over 200 by the end of this year, from about 100 currently.

Platts assessed month hydrogen pump prices in Europe at Eur9.50/kg ($10.75/kg) (Germany) on Jan 1.