Suzuki’s hydrogen-powered Burgman scooter has become the world’s first fuel-cell vehicle to pass European Whole Vehicle Type Approval tests.

According to a press release: Developed in the UK with British firm Intelligent Energy, the fuel cell Burgman has been undergoing trials for the last year, and soon the firm expects to have several of the bikes under test in public. While it’s not a production machine, so Suzuki could have used Europe’s ‘Single Vehicle’ type approval to get each test bike road registered, instead the firm has opted for ‘Whole Vehicle’ approval – effectively homologation that means the test bike and any more that Suzuki build are legal anywhere in Europe. Basically, it’s something that’s normally only done on mass-produced vehicles.

Source: Visor Down

At next month’s Paris Motor Show is going to be one hot spot in the automotive industry, especially for Suzuki, who will introduce their SX4-FCV: Suzuki Fuel Cell Vehicle Racer.

The fuel cell racer stores hydrogen in a special developed tank and features a compact capacitor which captures the regenerated energy that comes from the brakes. This pumps out 80 kW with an electric motor output of 68 kW, it allows the model to travel with interruption for up to 250km and it makes a top speed of 150km/h. It’s a big step for Suzuki or any motor company, most electric vehicles rely on electricity to come from an external source. The Fuel Cell Vehicle creates its own through a chemical process using hydrogen and oxygen.