Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., China's biggest carmaker, may unveil a prototype of a vehicle powered by fuel cells by 2005, which would make it the first to do so in China, the Automarket Web site reported. 

Shanghai Auto may change its Santana 2000 model, which is made with German partner Volkswagen AG in Shanghai, into a fuel cell car using hydrogen, the report said, without citing anyone. No timeframe for commercial sale of the fuel cell vehicle has been set, the report said. 

Shanghai Auto has a separate venture with General Motors Corp. in Shanghai, where it makes Buick sedans and wagons and Sail cars. It may use General Motors technology to make the fuel cell car, the Jiefang Daily has reported.   
 

Previously CEO of the US division of Xcellsis,  the joint venture of Ballard Power Systems, DaimlerChrysler and Ford, Rick Cooper has joined Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corporation (DMFCC) as Interim President and Chief Operating Officer. Over the last six years at Ballard and Xcellsis, Cooper built up a team of 175 people along with world-class research and manufacturing facilities for the development of fuel cell power systems for automotive applications. Prior to Xcellsis, he was a project manager in the test equipment industry. Mr. Cooper has honor degrees in Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering and is a registered professional engineer in California. 

IAS's new Propulsion Turbine is a breakthrough technology, which some professionals believe will revolutionize electrical power generation, and hydrogen fuel production for automobiles and fuel cells.
               

Global Thermoelectric Inc. ("Global") today announced the appointment of Peter Garrett to the Board of Directors, in addition to his previously announced promotion to President and CEO.

The car has no engine, transmission, brake or gas peddles and is controlled by a box that looks like it belongs in the hands of video game jockey.  

The sweeping windshield on the four-door sedan body reaches down close to the bumpers and there's room to spare inside because there are no mechanical components.  

The body is connected to a skateboard-like chassis that contains most of the vehicle's working parts.  

General Motors Corp. revealing the first pictures Wednesday of the fuel cell powered vehicle, called the  Hy-wire.  

It's the first drivable version of a concept the automaker unveiled during January's North American International Auto Show in Detroit under the name Autonomy as its attempt to reinvent the automobil

HERA Hydrogen Storage Systems Inc. “HERA”, a leading company in the business of  hydrogen storage development and commercialization, recentlycompleted its move to a new location.

As the demand for HERA’s hydrogen storage products outgrew its R&D laboratories, HERA needed room to set up commercial production capability as well as to accommodate the growth of its employee base. The production capability will initially focus on metal-hydride manufacturing and storage system assembly. Since January 2002, the number of employees at HERA has doubled to 20 people.
        

Ebara Corp. (J.EBA or 6361) will in February become Japan's first company to sell stand-alone fuel cells for the mass market, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Wednesday morning edition, citing company sources.

The so-called Nexa fuel cell, which obtains hydrogen from a cylinder, can supply electric power for long periods of time, making it a useful emergency power source, the sources said, according to the report.

The device has a 900w output, enough to meet the power needs of a typical house. Ebara will import key components from Ballard Power Systems Inc. (BLDP) of Canada and assemble them at its plant in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, next to Tokyo.

The company has already begun sample shipments through Ebara Ballard Corp., a Tokyo joint venture. It plans to set the price at Y3million or lower when it starts full-scale marketing next year, the financial daily reported.

FuelCell Energy, Inc., (Nasdaq: FCEL) and its partner, PPL Energy Services, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), will install a 250 kilowatt Direct FuelCell(R) (DFC(R)) power plant at Ocean County College in Toms River, New Jersey.  The power plant, which will run on natural gas, will be manufactured by FuelCell Energy in Connecticut and will be installed by PPL Energy
Services.

The total value of the project is $1.65 million.  The New Jersey Clean Energy Fund will provide $827,000 in the form of grants

The California Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California have converted their previously announced letter of intent to a firm agreement with Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corporation (DMFCC). The agreement provides DMFCC with rights to 26 issued and over 40 pending US and foreign patents on the direct methanol fuel cell technology, which was invented at the Caltech/NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and USC. These include the fundamental patent for using methanol dissolved in water as the fuel with a solid polymer membrane electrolyte, as well as patents on a new membrane, fuel cell designs and a methanol sensor. The agreement also provides for access to key JPL and USC scientists who developed the technology in order to assure its effective transfer to DMFCC, and for Caltech and USC to be equity shareholders in DMFCC.

Fuel Cell Technologies Ltd. (FCT, Canada) announced that it is entering the demonstration phase for commercialization of its first product targeted for mass markets worldwide. The product is built to provide on-site generation of electricity and heat for hot water and space heating for residences such as homes and cottages, and for small commercial operations such as farms and remote camps. 

The 5kW power system incorporates Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp.'s (Orlando, FL) tubulars olid-oxide fuel cells, which have operated successfully for thousands of hours in SiemensWestinghouse larger systems. FCT has operated the 5kW prototype on hydrogen, methane and natural gas; continued with system certification; and is now preparing two systems for shipment to Stockholm for demonstration at the Hammarby Sjostad project in August.  
                              

Pacific Fuel Cell Corp. (OTCBB:PFCE - news) today announced that it is in negotiations with the University of California to do research and build a prototype based upon PFCE's proprietary intellectual property.

George Suzuki, PFCE President, stated: ``We hope to sign an agreement shortly and at that time will provide further details. This research is
planned as the first step in an aggressive plan to position PFCE in the forefront of a tidal wave that will carry fuel cells to prominence as the major, non-polluting, energy source.''

Pacific Fuel Cell Corp. is an emerging Fuel Cell technology company aggressively developing low cost fuel cells for production, using proprietary technology to severely reduce or eliminate the need for platinum as a catalyst. PFCE is actively pursuing the acquisition of related intellectual property to further establish its position in the Fuel Cell Industry. The company is executing its plan to carve out a major position in this exciting and lucrative industry.                                                . 

Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD) (Nasdaq: ENER) announced today that James R. Metzger, a Board member since July 2000, will join ECD's senior management team as Vice Chairman effective November 1, 2002.
    
Mr. Metzger, 54, comes to ECD after over 30 years with Texaco Inc.  He retired as Texaco's Chief Technology Officer in March 2002 following the merger of Chevron and Texaco in October 2001.

Global Thermoelectric Inc. ("Global" or the"Company") will be presenting at the Raymond James Technology Conference on  Thursday, August 22, 2002 in Montreal, Quebec.  The Company will be discussing its progress in the advancement of its Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC)
technology, and testing of its SOFC system prototypes.

      Highlights:

      1. Testing of prototypes in conjunction with the Company's Enbridge
         alliance is continuing. The Company, as of today's date, has achieved
         a test duration exceeding that recorded in the earlier version of its
         prototype.
      2. Significant breakthroughs have been achieved in the service life and
         manufacturing costs of Global's fuel cell stacks.
      3. The Company has signed a definitive agreement with Citizens Gas of
         Indianapolis, Indiana as a follow-on to an MOU signed earlier.
      4. Based on a comprehensive engineering analysis of its current
         technology and commercial product requirements, the Company is
         anticipating a product launch of its initial commercial applications
         in the second half of 2005.
      5. Recent executive appointments reflect the Company's evolution to a
         product development focused organization. The three recently appointed
         executives: Peter Garrett, President and Chief Executive Officer;
         Dr. Brian Borglum, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer; and
         Eric Neary, Vice President of Engineering have over 56 years of
         combined experience in product development environments.
      6. The Company is not aware of any internal developments not previously
         disclosed that would account for the recent increase in trading
         activity of its stock.

A team of scientists at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio has received a $3million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy(DOE) to test materials for their ability to store hydrogen.
  

Wärtsilä has entered into a co-operation agreement with the Danish technology company Haldor Topsøe A/S to start a joint development
programme within the area of fuel cell technology. The development  programme aims to bring to the market highly efficient, clean and cost competitive fuel cell products with power outputs above 200 kW for distributed power generation and marine applications. 

The programme combines the competence of both companies. Wärtsilä will apply its know-how in decentralised power plant applications and 
marine propulsion systems. Haldor Topsøe has long experience and a leading position in catalyst development for oil industry and in development of planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology. 

The fuel cell development programme is part of Wärtsilä´s strategy to provide environmentally friendly solutions for customers with various 
power generation needs. SOFC technology will provide products for cogeneration applications with ultra-low emission levels, high efficiency and outstanding reliability. 

California is on the verge of the next step in moving toward hydrogen-powered transportation with plans underway for what could be a large number of hydrogen fueling stations. 

"There is a possibility for a number of stations, as few as ten or as many as 100" stations in the Los Angeles Basin, a source at the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), said. 

The District is weighing all sorts of infrastructure options, from small dispersed satellite stations costing perhaps a few hundred thousand dollars to equip or retrofit to larger centralized stations whose costs could run into the millions of dollars. 

Further north, in West Sacramento, the California Fuel Cell Partnership, in announcing its goals for this year, said it intends to install a satellite hydrogen fuel station in Richmond, on the north end of San Francisco Bay, with two more satellite stations planned for "appropriate locations." 
 

Safe Hydrogen, LLC said it believes it has solved the critical hydrogen storage problem, long considered a significant roadblock to utilizing hydrogen powered fuel cells. The chief technology officer of the new firm, Andy McClaine, managed a three year, $ 3 million dollar development project, funded by the Department of Energy, and is building the new company based on storage technology developed in that project. 

Safe Hydrogen uses a slurry - a liquid mix not unlike thick paint - that both stores and generates 99.999 percent pure hydrogen on demand by the addition of water. This is achieved by a very simple and low cost mixing system using any available water. 

Additionally, the Safe Hydrogen slurry provides the handling and safety benefits of a non-explosive and non-flammable storage format. 

According to Sig Tullmann, CEO of the start-up, this new technology provides benefits to both future and current hydrogen users. It saves storage and transportation cost and, "especially in our new security conscious world, saves security risks and costs by providing a non-explosive and non-flammable stored hydrogen," he says.