Pragma Industries’ hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric bike has got a 50% range boost thanks to a pioneering fuel cell. In addition, 200 of the revamped e-Bikes will be on hand for journalists at this month’s G7 Summit in Biarritz, France.

Pragma’s Alpha bikes launched in 2017, becoming what the firm said is the world’s first commercially available hydrogen fuel cell bike. Operating like a standard e-Bike – Alpha provides assistance to riding.

Thanks to tech from AMS Composite Cylinders, Pragma has replaced the original (200 bar) gas cylinder with an ultra-lightweight, non-limited life high pressure (300 bar) carbon composite gas cylinder. The Alpha’s maximum range has increased from 100 km to 150 km, comparable to the typical battery powered e-Bike range of circa 50 km (that’s Pragma’s estimate, which is on the conservative side).

The 45th G7 World Summit runs later this month and 200 Alphas will be available for journalists covering the event, to travel between the press centre and city where two bike pick up and return stations will be installed. After the high profile summit, the 200 bikes will be made available for long term rental across Biarritz.

“Alpha fuel cell bikes offer significant advantages over electric battery bikes in terms of both range and refuelling,” said Pierre Forte, Founder and CEO of Pragma Industries. “Whereas batteries typically take several hours to recharge, hydrogen cylinders can be refilled in under 2 minutes. For fleet applications, this is invaluable.

“In commercial applications, range matters. Switching to AMS cylinders has provided a 50% increase in hydrogen capacity and working range to 150km – enabling Alpha to stay on the road for up to a week in average, real-world use. This reduces the time, cost and hassle associated with refuelling.

“We’re expanding production of the bikes to meet growing global demand, and already have plans to use AMS cylinders in our upcoming models to explore further range extension.”