Suzuki MIO wheel chair prototype is fuel-cell powered

The fuel cell uses methanol to power the wheelchair.

On Nov 6, 2006, Suzuki unveiled a wheel chair prototype powered by fuel cell technology by the name of MIO. This wheel chair uses methanol as fuel source. This small and compact wheelchair comes at 1200mm long, 650mm wide, and 1000mm tall. Designed to be swift, the tank has the capacity of 4 liters of fuel, which gives a ride of 25 mile (40 kms). Even though, the wheelchair runs on methanol, the large Li-on back up battery acts as a store and gives the boost till the time you re-fuel your wheelchair.

The designers of Suzuki MIO have taken care in terms of safety as well as comfort of the user. The wheelchair has armrests on both the sides, with handlebars designed for a full steering lock with minimal effort. The seats are comfortable and cozy with mesh type fabric who provides extra comfort and good aeration.

The people at Suzuki believe in future people would buy get into buying automobiles running on bio-diesel or something which is environment friendly for short distance travel for a couple of people. And that's where the MIO comes into picture. Besides being environment friendly, the MIO comes with a large LCD display, which shows fuel levels and power sources. This is a very useful tool, when you are left with no fuel and are let stranded at some distance from home.

The MIO is expecting response from the customers and as per reports the production of MIO would start only after the positive response it gets from the customers. Price of this funky looking wheelchair was not disclosed and will not disclosed till the time, the customers making a bee-line to buy the MIO.

Today, Suzuki Motor Corporation is one of the biggest automobile makers from Japan. The company was founded by Michio Suzuki in 1909 and its headquarters are located at Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. Suzuki's product lineup is huge and impressive right from small automobiles, motorcycles, and outboard motors to a variety of other products. The company has a foothold and production facilities in 22 countries around the globe. The company's motto is "value packed products" and develop that promote better living conditions and satisfy people's needs.