Check Out This Hydrogen-Powered Motorcycle Made By A Student

The bike runs on a water and oxygen mixture, and his project takes advantage of electrolysis inside a standard motorcycle engine.

By: Earl Davidson

Jul 24, 2022 at 12:33pm ET

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Watch this short video on a motorcycle that’s been modified to run on water, in other words, hydrogen. The water-powered project was dreamed up and created by Santiago Herrera, a student who’s based in Argentina.

It’s impressive to see that the power of hydrogen can be taken advantage of by a student to make a motorcycle run. I mean, there are some mad geniuses out there like this one guy that made a motorcycle that runs on methane.

Herrera’s little student project involved a conventional motorcycle with a standard gasoline engine which he modified to accommodate his new fuel source, water. It’s a feat considering that he had to make an internal combustion motor run on electrolysis instead of the suck-squeeze-bang-blow combustion cycle of a typical gasoline-powered engine. It’s not clear if the motorcycle he used is of the two-stroke or four-stroke variety, however.

For those of you that are wondering, the bike doesn’t look to be street legal, though it’s not impossible for it to have been once upon a time. It’s a pretty rudimentary machine, with an engine in the middle, a glass jar that serves as its fuel tank, handlebars, two wheels, and a very uncomfortable-looking seat among other motorcycle parts.

In Herrera’s video, the language is Spanish, but that doesn’t prevent us from getting an idea of what’s happening. To get the bike started, Herrera kicks it to life and the carburetor sucks up the stoichiometric mixture of oxygen and hydrogen.

Tell us what you think!

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If you check Herrera’s TikTok account, you can see more videos were added since he first posted about his creation on the platform. He has another video wherein he gives us a closer look at the project, and even a clip of its starting up and revving. There are some comments asking for English videos, and the project appears to have captured the interest of a few users on TikTok.