Suzuki Motor Corp. has developed "MIO," an electric wheelchair with a fuel cell unit. It has been designed based on Suzuki's previous electric wheelchair "Senior Car" operable with a handlebar. It is a motor-driven wheelchair that runs on electricity generated by the fuel cell unit. The company says that the new wheelchair is more user-friendly and boasts a longer travel range compared to the existing model mounted with a lead-acid battery.
The product employs a direct methanol fuel cell that directly supplies methanol to the cell for reaction along with a large-capacity Li-ion secondary battery. The wheelchair can run 40 km or more with one recharge (4 L) of methanol solution. It allows easier handling because there is no need to recharge from the mains power source. As for the details of the fuel cell unit and the Li-ion secondary battery, Suzuki PR explains, "We will not release the information because it is a prototype at this stage."
In addition, the wheelchair boasts the following features: (1) a stable vehicle body with large armrests that serve also as safety barriers, (2) a handlebar with ball knobs at both ends that can reduce strain on the wrists when turning the wheelchair in a large circle, (3) a seat made of mesh fabric with spring effect which improves cushioning property and air permeability to assure smoother ride and greater comfort and (4) a large LCD panel display that improves visibility of amount information on the remaining fuel, power generation state, etc. indicated on the screen.
electric fuel cell carwell at last some one has actually designed a type of mobility scooter with out the stupid tiller steering.
This sort of steering leaves an unsupported 1 meter aprox high 'stick' protruding from the front to steer the scooter by.
this limits the amount of things you carry on the scooter to a bottle of milk.
tiller steering went out in 1906 on cars and it has taken 100 years for mobility scooters to catch up.
the use of a bib in the front and secure the steering to this enables all sorts of strong features to be added to the scooter including large parcel carriers and no weight limit.
a search of 30 pages of google images shows not one commercial scooter with a strong frontal bib to support the steering and protect the rider.
So all praise to suzuki for breaking the mould and hope they set an example of really good design to the rest of the scooter makers
