Zaha Hadid Designs Revolutionary Hydrogen Refueling Station for Sustainable Boating

Zaha Hadid Architects, renowned for pushing the boundaries of architectural design, has recently unveiled a groundbreaking project in collaboration with NatPowerH—a subsidiary of the NatPower group. The NatPowerH Hydrogen Refueling Station is poised to become the world’s first green hydrogen refueling infrastructure, and it’s specifically tailored for Italy’s boating industry. With plans to deploy 100 stations across the Mediterranean in the next six years, this ambitious project aims to address environmental concerns and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from recreational boats.

Designers: Zaha Hadid Architects and NatPower H

At the helm of this initiative is NatPower H, a pioneering global developer of innovative technologies for the production, storage, and distribution of green hydrogen. The €100 million investment will kickstart the installation of the green hydrogen infrastructure in the summer of 2024, with a vision to establish 100 refueling stations throughout the Mediterranean by 2030.

The NatPowerH Hydrogen Refueling Station spans 50 square meters and stands out for its commitment to harnessing renewable energy sources. Through a combination of wind, solar, and other sustainable technologies, the station generates hydrogen while emitting only water vapor and warm air—making it a trailblazer in eco-friendly hydrogen production.

Zaha Hadid Architects has designed the NatPowerH Hydrogen Refueling Station with a focus on scalability, sustainability, and safety. The modular nature of the station allows it to adapt to diverse locations across the Mediterranean. This adaptability ensures that each refueling station can be customized based on specific location needs, such as seating arrangements, pedestrian turnover, size, and facilities for bike charging.

In terms of construction, the NatPowerH Hydrogen Refueling Station incorporates innovative 3D robotic material placement. This technology enables the creation of fully recyclable, dry-assembled masonry, minimizing construction waste. The design draws inspiration from nature, mimicking the striated structures and fluid geometries inherent in Mediterranean landscapes and marine ecosystems.

The circular construction of the refueling stations aligns with NatPower H’s commitment to circularity and the preservation of marine ecosystems. Through the use of low-carbon concrete generated through geometric design rather than increased material usage, the structural materials required are reduced by up to 50%, without compromising performance.

NatPower H’s green hydrogen infrastructure aims to revolutionize the recreational boating industry by creating a network of sustainable energy hubs in major Italian marinas. The initiative responds to the increasing demand for sustainable vessels in the face of ecological concerns. The establishment of protected marine areas worldwide, prohibiting the use of diesel engines, underscores the industry’s need for ecologically sustainable developments.

Collaborating with Zaha Hadid Architects, NatPower H ensures that the construction of the green hydrogen refueling stations adheres to the highest safety standards. The partnership leverages Zaha Hadid Architects’ expertise in modular systems and adaptable designs, allowing for customized configurations based on the unique requirements of each location.

In a broader strategic move, NatPower H has also partnered with Bluegame, a renowned yacht builder, to provide green hydrogen for hydrogen-powered chase boats participating in the upcoming 37th America’s Cup. This collaboration exemplifies the potential benefits of establishing and distributing green hydrogen in the rapidly growing sustainable boating market.

The NatPowerH Hydrogen Refueling Station, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, represents a landmark project in the transition towards sustainable marine transportation. With its innovative design, commitment to circular construction, and strategic partnerships, this project is set to redefine the future of green hydrogen infrastructure in the recreational boating industry, paving the way for a more eco-friendly and sustainable maritime sector.

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Ultra-futuristic hydrogen fuel motorcycle concept with a holographic display lets you see around corners

If you thought e-bikes were the future, the XCELL should really make you feel like a bunch of dinosaurs! An advanced concept right out of Shanghai-based X-idea Industrial Design Co., Ltd., the XCELL presents a few radically new ideas that hope to redefine how technology and transportation can change in the future. Originally unveiled at the 19th China International Motorcycle Exhibition in Chongqing last year, the XCELL pioneers hydrogen fuel-cell technology, relying on four cylindrical cells that sit in the front of the motorbike’s fairing. Except for the fact that it has two wheels, a seat, and is controlled by a user who operates it using handlebars, the XCELL is quite unlike any other two-wheeler before it. It features an adjustable design that allows the handlebars to pivot forward or backward, laser headlights that work remarkably well in the dark, and a drone that automatically lifts off the motorcycle to help evaluate the condition of the roads ahead, presenting holographic obstacles for the rider to clearly see as they drive down roads.

Designer: Shanghai X-idea Industrial Design Co., Ltd.

A winner of the Red Dot Design Concept award this year, the XCELL enhances the riding experience in ways never done before. For starters, it runs on hydrogen fuel cells, burning clean energy to provide zero carbon emissions “with a top speed more than 200km/h and a range of 200km”.

Another large component of the XCELL is driver safety and comfort. The motorbike’s unique design seats one and comes with an adjustable riding triangle (seat, bar, footpeg). The handlebars move forward and backward, allowing you to change your riding stance, opting for either a traditional stance or leaning forward for a more racing-like aerodynamic seating position.

Which brings us to driver safety, an area where the XCELL has some undoubtedly bold ideas. “XCELL is equipped with an intelligent active safety system that provides riders with timely obstacle feedback based on road conditions, allowing blind bend prediction for cars, people and obstacles”, say the makers. The motorcycle comes with its own drone that sits right above the taillight (shown below), which takes off and flies ahead of the rider, capturing the road ahead as well as obstacles around corners. This data is fed to the XCELL’s holographic display that allows the rider to make informed decisions by knowing what they otherwise wouldn’t know. Pair this with powerful laser headlights and night vision assistance and you’ve got yourself a motorcycle that makes riding dramatically safer by providing crucial information to help riders make more informed decisions while on the road.

The XCELL is a winner of the Red Dot Design Concept for the year 2022.

A close-up look at the hydrogen fuel cells on the XCELL motorcycle.

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The world’s first hydrogen cargo bike is the future of transportation as it runs without batteries!





The LAVO bike from StudioMOM is the world’s first hydrogen bike, requiring no heavy batteries, particulates, or CO2 emissions for operation.

Nowadays, it seems bikes are the preferred mode of transportation in crowded cities. Traffic is no joke and public transportation has seen some major changes since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, so people are hitting the streets with shiny electric and portable bicycles. While bikes are generally more environmentally friendly than cars and trucks, they come with their own list of setbacks. Becoming the world’s first hydrogen bike, the LAVO bike from StudioMOM is a small solution to a big problem.

Requiring no heavy batteries, particulates, or CO2 emissions, the LAVO bike was designed to bring us, as StudioMOM puts it, “one step closer to an emission-free society.” Acquiring hydrogen from water and solar energy, the LAVO bike is outfitted with small hydrogen tanks that power up the bike for operation.

LAVO’s proprietary energy storage system converts electricity from solar panels using an electrolyzer that divides water into its hydrogen and oxygen components, relocating them to a long-term storage system that contains a metal alloy to produce hydrogen.

Only requiring around ten minutes for charging, the LAVO bike runs for a range of about 150km before recharging. Constructed using lightweight material, the LAVO bike keeps a cargo build to cater to the basic weight that comes with a hydrogen-based system.

Describing the choice to make LAVO a cargo bike, StudioMOM notes, “Long-range cargo solutions, in particular, require a lot of energy. Then an extra hydrogen tank of 1.2 kg is surely preferable to an extra battery that weighs 6 kg.” From its modular assembly system to its ergonomic build, the LAVO bike was designed as less of a traditional cargo bike and more of an innovative mode of transport–LAVO was designed for change.

Designer: StudioMOM

Daimler and Volvo team up to make fuel cells for trucks and generators

Daimler and Volvo both believe hydrogen fuel cells have a place alongside pure electric power, and they’re teaming up to ensure that happens. They’re forming a joint venture to develop and sell fuel cell systems. The focus is on heavy-duty trucks (su...

This hydrogen fuel based pod is the vehicle of choice for a green future!

We all once believed flying cars would be the future for the auto industry. Then cars started driving themselves, so that future was left up to the designers to decide. But never has the future weighed so heavily above us than it has in 2020. Globally, designers are utilizing this moment to construct what they believe the future of the auto industry will and, in some cases, should look like, including Moscow-based, Nikita Konopatov who recently conceptualized a hydrogen-fueled car for the future, called Future Center Europe. The fuel-cell vehicle design would move on two cylindrical barrels with a bubbled body, an image representative of molecular hydrogen combustion. The decision to construct a new automobile fueled by hydrogen is both feasible and deliberate. With the frequency of road transportation decreasing, and therefore air pollution, as a result of travel restrictions due to the pandemic, many of us have consciously shifted toward greener alternatives. Fuel cell vehicles indicate one green alternative since the electric vehicles use generators to turn hydrogen into electricity, providing energy.

Hydrogen fuel is produced once hydrogen reacts with oxygen to make water. Since hydrogen is an energy carrier, which means it transmits energy from a primary source, such as solar energy or coal, it can be used as fuel for cars. Extracting hydrogen from compounds can be tricky, but it is possible through electrolysis, which is the most popular, ecological, and efficient option. Konopatov describes his design as “atypical,” but it is also so utopian, it discredits any possibility of a future doomsday. With columnar wheels and panoramic windows, this design could inspire sci-fi anime or become one. Who wouldn’t take a drive? On paper, this design points out our seemingly new reality and how we interact with it. Globally, we’re embracing simplicity, sprucing up our own corner of the world, and modifying our lens for alternative living in order to meet it halfway. Similarly, Nikita Konopatov’s fuel cell vehicle nods towards a simpler, albeit faraway future world, where cars might not fly, but breathe like us.

Designer: Nikita Konopatov

Hyperion’s futuristic hydrogen-powered supercar can hit speeds as high as 220 mph

Hyperion’s supercar looks like an absolute beast of an automobile, but if the driver seated inside it had their way, you probably would never really get to see the car properly. Powered by hydrogen fuel cells, the Hyperion XP-1 can hit breakneck speeds of 220mph (354kmh), so all you’d really see is a blur as it passes you by.

The car was supposed to debut at the now-canceled New York Auto Show, but Hyperion did deliver on its promise of a reveal by releasing the video above, and images of what the car will look like. The car was designed by Hyperion’s team of aerospace engineers, a fact that’s pretty believable considering how the car looks like it could break the sound barrier. The tip of the XP-1 even has a jet-inspired pointed nose to cut across the air as the rest of the automobile’s aerodynamic surfacing helps guide it forward with as little drag as possible. The car’s outer body, made from titanium-reinforced carbon-fiber, encloses its “Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell Power Module”. This “space-age” hydrogen propulsion system stores energy in cells as opposed to a lithium-ion battery, and delivers power to four motors connected to each of the four wheels. It all sounds futuristic because it most certainly is, and I’m not surprised that the XP-1’s ignition sounds like Iron Man’s repulsors too.

The Hyperion XP-1 boasts of a stellar 1000 mile range, delivered in part because of the efficient hydrogen propulsion system, but also because the car comes mounted with solar panels on its air blades. The air blades, sitting on each side of the car, act as aerodynamic structures to help cornering at high-speeds, and come mounted with solar panels that can apparently change position to track the sun as you drive. Speaking of driving, the XP1 boasts of an acceleration of 0-60mph in just 2.2 seconds, and a top speed of over 220mph. Moreover, Hyperion even claims that the supercar can fully recharge in under 5 minutes. The company’s been beating all odds to continue development and production through the pandemic, and they’re estimating having 300 units of a production version ready by as soon as 2022.

Designer: Hyperion

Hyundai’s new hydrogen-powered truck will give the Tesla Semi a run for its money

I’ll admit I do have a tendency to speak in hyperbole, but this time I’m making an exception only because Hyundai’s truck shows ‘truckloads’ of promise. I’m talking clean energy-burning, hydrogen-fuel-cell powered, autonomous driving, zero emissions, zero noise semi-truck with an ergonomic design that looks splendid from the outside and provides a stunning panoramic view on the inside. I love my cushy desk-job, but damn, if I had a chance to be a trucker with a Hyundai HDC-6 Neptune, I’d probably give it all up in a heartbeat.

Inspired by the aesthetic of the 1936 Mercury Train, Hyundai’s latest semi concept channels the art-deco beauty of the machine, giving it a suitable revival in the form of a sufficiently advanced truck capable of wowing people. The HDC-6 Neptune relooks the semi-truck typology by redesigning it around Hyundai’s zero-emission fuel-cell technology. The truck features a panoramic cockpit with a skylight that offers an incredible amount of sunlight during the day, giving the interiors a rather glamping-inspired touch. The truck comes with autonomous driving capabilities, allowing the driver to kick back and watch movies on a HUD built right into the truck’s windshield, or take relaxation to another level with the shape-shifting cabin that comes with two levels. As impressive as the insides are (enough to make me consider switching jobs), the exterior is just as wowing. The truck’s glass top is balanced with a seamless grille at the base that runs from end to end, helping with cooling. The truck uses hydrogen fuel technology that burns to release water-vapor, making the truck have zero emissions, while its bullet-shaped streamlined design helps improve fuel economy… and the cherry on the cake is definitely those shape-shifting rims on the wheels that help further air-intake!

Designer: Hyundai

Goodbye Carbon. Hello Hydrogen.

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It’s time to say goodbye to traditional fossil fuels. Germany (arguably the most important country on the automobile map) has already taken steps to shift to a hydrogen based fuel system, so it’s just about time till the rest of the world catches up. Enter, the Iceni H2, a car designed around the Hydrogen-based fuel system. The car in its pristine white exterior exudes purity, a philosophy built around the pollution free nature of the car’s fuel.

So how about we knock off our carbon footprint?? 😀

Designer: Tom Johnson

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