Don't Bad-Mouth the Engine!

Are Engines Really the Villain Today?

 

"Don't bad-mouth the engine!"

It’s a slightly rough statement, and maybe not the kind of thing I usually say.  

But these days, it really does feel as if the engine is being treated like a villain.

It’s often blamed as a main cause of global warming, and working hard to get rid of it as quickly as possible is treated as the “good” and “moral” thing to do.

But the modern world depends on engines far more than most people realize.

 How Engines Helped Humanity Escape the Malthus Trap

Long before the engine was invented, there was Malthus’s “An Essay on the Principle of Population.”

Malthus argued that food production increases only in an arithmetic progression, while population, if left unchecked, grows in a geometric progression.  

Since population is limited by food production capacity, if the population grows too large, poverty, disease, famine, and war will inevitably follow — that was his warning.

And yet, the world’s population, which was about 1.5 billion in the early 20th century, exploded to around 7 billion during that century, and now stands at about 8 billion.

How was something like that even possible?  

In my view, it was thanks to the invention of the engine.

Earth-moving machines opened up land, agricultural machinery revolutionized farming, and from large ocean-going vessels to coastal fishing boats, engines made efficient fishing possible.  

From every corner of the planet, all kinds of vehicles — from big trucks to compact cars and small delivery vans — carry food to local supermarkets, convenience stores, and finally right to your front door.

What has made all of this logistics and transportation possible, on a global scale?  

Engines. It’s hard to imagine trains alone doing the same job.

Humanity’s “success story” has, in many ways, been the success story of the engine.

EVs, Decarbonization, and the Future of Mobility

Right now, there is a big push to replace internal combustion engines with EVs.

I am very much in favor of that effort itself.  

We don’t have time to sit around saying, “It’s meaningless unless power generation is already fully decarbonized.”  

The climate crisis is urgent.

So first, let’s achieve decarbonization on the mobility side.  

We need to act quickly and do everything we can, wherever we can.

Once that happens, it will in turn put pressure on power generation to decarbonize, and help accelerate decarbonization across the entire world.

Why We Don’t Need to Drive the Engine to Extinction

First hydrogen bike

But even so, that does **not** mean we have to make engines go extinct.

This is the part I really want people to think about carefully.

The internal combustion engine is one of the greatest mechanisms humanity has ever created.  

It is exquisitely precise and refined, yet at the same time primal, wild, and beautiful.

Why should we have to erase something like that from the world?  

Engines are a treasure of humankind — and for many of us, they are also our best mechanical friends.

The carbon emissions come from the **fuel**, because we’re burning petroleum-derived fuels.  

If we switch to fuels that don’t contain carbon, the problem changes.

 

From Fossil Fuels to Hydrogen: Why We’re Building a Hydrogen Motorcycle

Hydrogen Bike No. 2

That’s why we at iB (Inoue Boring Co., Ltd.), a company of engine people and internal-combustion specialists, are going to build a **hydrogen motorcycle**.

If you work with internal combustion engines for a living, this is exactly what you should be doing.

I can’t find any good reason **not** to do it.  

So we’re going to do it.

We hope you’ll support us on this journey.

FAQ

 

Q1. Why defend the engine when climate change is such a big issue?

 

    We take climate change very seriously. Our point is not that “nothing needs to change,” but that we should change the fuel, not throw away the engine itself. EVs and clean power are essential, and at the same time, engines running on carbon-free fuels — such as hydrogen — can also play an important role. For motorcycle lovers, preserving the unique feel, sound, and character of the engine while decarbonizing is a path worth pursuing.  

 

Q2. What is a hydrogen motorcycle engine in simple terms?

 

    A hydrogen motorcycle engine is basically an internal combustion engine that burns hydrogen instead of gasoline. The core mechanical structure of the motorcycle engine remains — pistons, connecting rods, crankshaft — but the fuel, injection, and ignition systems are adapted for hydrogen. The goal is to keep the visceral, mechanical character of a motorcycle engine while greatly reducing CO₂ emissions by using a carbon-free fuel.  

 

Q3. Will a hydrogen motorcycle still feel like a “real” engine bike?

 

    That’s exactly the point of a hydrogen engine motorcycle. Unlike a pure electric bike, a hydrogen internal combustion engine still has real mechanical movement inside: the reciprocating pistons, the vibration, the exhaust pulse, and the rider’s connection to throttle response. The sound and character will be different from gasoline, but it will still be a true engine motorcycle — not just a silent appliance on two wheels.  

 

Q4. How can motorcycle riders support projects like iB’s hydrogen engine development?

 

    The simplest support is to stay interested: follow the progress, share information with fellow riders, and keep the conversation open about engines, EVs, and hydrogen. For specialized projects like ours, feedback from real motorcycle lovers is incredibly valuable — what you want to feel, hear, and experience from a future hydrogen motorcycle engine. Your curiosity and passion are the fuel that keeps small engineering companies like iB pushing forward.