Stuart Energy of Canada
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Honda (FCV) and Toyota (FCV )
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

GM's HydroGen3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Medis Technologies Power Pack
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

IdaTechs  FCS1200

A research project on the Ewa plain could yield cutting-edge ways to store solar-generated energy for later use when the sun is not shining.

The project will team the Navy, the University of Hawaii's Natural Energy Institute and Hawaiian Electric Co.

The project will receive $2.5 million in federal funds for use in the next two years, said Gary Jensen, director of the MidPacific Branch of the Office of Naval Research.

Stuart Energy of Canada agreed this week to produce hydrogen for the federally funded Honolulu fuel-cell test center scheduled to begin operations next month. 

The deal is part of a local research effort working to carve Hawaii a piece of the worldwide commercial fuel-cell market that's estimated to be $25 billion by 2010. 

Researchers from the University of Hawaii's Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, UTC Fuel Cells, Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc. and the U.S. Department of Defense are working to develop the fuel-cell testing facility.

Global demand for vehicles using alternative fuels is expected to be 170,000 units by the year 2002 up from 16,900 units sold in 2001. Fuel cells will replace all alternative fuels by 2005. Fleet vehicle markets will evolve first.

Vehicle fuel cell markets at $40.5 million in 2005 represent the beginning of commercial introduction of cars that use fuel cell systems. Markets are  expected to reach $8.5 billion by 2011.

Commercialization challenges for the automotive fuel cell industry relate to making vehicle fuel cells cost competitive with existing gasoline engines. The most difficult challenges are low-cost infrastructure, range, and power density. Other challenges include cost reduction, component integration complexity reduction, and increasing safety.

The Marubeni Corporation (TSE: 8002 - News) and FuelCell Energy,Inc. (Nasdaq: FCEL - News), announced the siting of a Direct  FuelCell® (DFC®) power plant at the Nippon Metal Industry Co., Ltd., in Japan. Marubeni, Asian partner of fuel cell developer FuelCellEnergy, will install a 250 kW DFC® power plant to the SagamiharaWorks of Nippon Metal in the second quarter of 2003. The facility,located in the City of Sagamihara, Prefecture of Kanagawa, produces high quality specialty steels for a wide variety of applications and industries worldwide - including for use in FuelCell Energy's fuel cell stacks. The DFC® cogeneration unit will operate using town gas and supply the facility with electricity and steam. 

What could Honda (HMC ) and Toyota (TM ) be thinking? On Dec. 2 in Tokyo, they rolled out the world's first commercially available cars running on hydrogen fuel cells. Each one--Honda Motor Co.'s FCX and Toyota Motor Corp.'s FCHV--cost about $1 million to build. The companies are still struggling to line up their first dozen lease customers, even at the giveaway fee of $500 a month that Honda is charging in the U.S. And neither manufacturer expects to see a mass market in this decade. Says Hiroyuki Yoshino, Honda's soft-spoken president and chief executive: "My goal is to build one a month over the next two or three years."

Plug Power Inc. received antitrust clearance from the Federal Trade Commission for its proposed acquisition of H Power Corp. (NasdaqNM:HPOW - News; HPOW).

The FTC said Tuesday that it granted Plug Power early termination of the waiting period required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

As reported Nov. 12, Plug Power agreed to acquire fellow fuel-cell company H Power in a stock swap valued at about $50.7 million.

The exchange ratio calls for H Power shareholders to receive about eight- tenths of a Plug Power share for each H Power  share. The value to be paid also will depend on the amount of H Power's cash, assets and liabilities at the closing date. 

Federal Express Corporation ("FedEx Express") and General Motors Corp. ("GM") announced a joint program to  advance fuel cell technology by conducting the first commercial test of a fuel cell vehicle in Japan.

FedEx Express will participate in GM's HydroGen3 fuel cell testing program for one year by operating the HydroGen3 on its normal delivery schedules in the Tokyo area from June 2003 to June 2004. GM's HydroGen3 is the first fuel cell vehicle fueled with liquid hydrogen to run on public roads in Japan.

GM will collect and analyze the data gained from the FedEx Express operation to determine how its fuel cell vehicles operate under demanding, real-world commercial driving conditions. GM will contribute these results as part of its participation in the Japan Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Demonstration Project.

The Seventh Edition of Fuel Cells 2000's Fuel Cell Directory is here, and it is bigger and better than ever. 

Now even more comprehensive fuel cell company information is right there at your fingertips. 

The California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP) today announced that Ztek Corporation has joined its public-private venture to demonstrate and promote fuel cell vehicles and fuel alternatives. 

Ztek, based in Woburn, Mass., specializes in the manufacturing of fossil fuel-to-electricity and hydrogen conversion technology. Ztek will team up with another CaFCP associate partner, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) of San Francisco, to supply a hydrogen reformer system. That system, which will use natural gas to produce hydrogen, will provide fuel for the partnership's fuel cell vehicles. It will be located at PG&E's Service Center in Auburn, Calif. Ztek will also be responsible for system installation, commissioning and service. 

The Auburn hydrogen station, located approximately 40 miles from the CaFCP headquarters facility in West Sacramento, will be the partnership's third hydrogen fueling station in northern California. It is expected to be operational in 2003.

Fuel Cells: A Perspective on 2002
David Jollie, 18th December 2002
Fuel Cell Today

As we near the end of 2002, it seems worthwhile looking back over the year in fuel cells and putting developments in perspective. Are we still moving forward, and - more importantly - are we moving forward at the right pace? AAs always, there has been a mixture of good and bad news: is the final balance positive or negative?

Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), Israel’s leading defense industry firm, is entering the field of cellular communications and portable computers. IAI will operate through Medis Technologies (Nasdaq: MDTL), in which it holds a 25% stake. 
IAI and Medis today launched their product, which they described as a global breakthrough in the mobile devices industry. 

The product, called Power Pack, operates on the basis of fuel cells. The Power Pack will supply users with continuous power for cell phones and mobile computers, without relying on loading from an external power source. 

The empty battery in a phone will be loaded during use, and can operate for nine hours of conversation. This means that there is no need to load the battery from a regular power source during the night or during the working day. 

A team of 25 scientists in Yehud, mostly from the former Soviet Union, developed the new power loader. 

Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP - News; TSX:BLD - News) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of the interest of ALSTOM Canada Inc. in Ballard's stationary power subsidiary, Ballard Generation Systems Inc. ("BGS"), through the issuance of 2.5 million Ballard common shares. ALSTOM Canada Inc. is subject to a minimum four-year hold period for 1.9 million of these shares, and to a standard four-month statutory hold period for the remaining shares. 

Ballard's relationship with the ALSTOM Group will continue through a member of the ALSTOM Group being granted a non-exclusive worldwide (except for Japan) distribution right for Ballard's stationary fuel cell systems in place of ALSTOM's prior exclusive rights to manufacture and distribute Ballard's stationary fuel cell systems in Europe only. Additionally, the jointly owned company ALSTOM BALLARD GmbH (ALSTOM BALLARD), based in Europe, will continue to oversee the existing European 250 kW stationary field trial program. ALSTOM BALLARD is owned 51% by ALSTOM GmbH and 49% by Ballard. 

NKK Corp., a steelmaker under JFE Holdings Inc. <5411>, said Tuesday it has developed pure carbon nanotube tape suitable for mass production at a relatively low cost. 

NKK said it can start mass production of the new material in six months at the earliest. The company will begin sample shipments early next year. 

Carbon nanotubes are tiny cylinders of carbon atoms. 

The carbon nanotube tape can be used for such products as field emission displays, a next-generation flat-panel display, fuel cells and semiconductor parts, NKK officials said. 

DaimlerChrysler AG will early in the new year field-test eight of its proprietary hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles on Japan's public roads, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. 

Until now, the US-German auto maker has been working on prototype vehicles powered by direct-methanol fuel cells, which extract hydrogen by triggering a chemical reaction in methanol. 

DaimlerChrysler's F-Cell vehicle is based on Mercedes-Benz A-class subcompact cars. It runs at a speed of up to 140 km/h and has a cruising range of 150 kilometers. Its tanks can contain 1.8 kilograms of compressed hydrogen. 

The auto maker has decided to work on hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles because such rivals as Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co have developed prototypes of this type. 

DaimlerChrysler believes that it will be able to cooperate more easily with other auto makers by sharing hydrogen stations, for example, if it adopts the hydrogen-powered fuel-cell model, a company official said. 

But DaimlerChrysler also plans to continue developing direct-methanol fuel-cell vehicles as well. The hydrogen models require expensive hydrogen production and are difficult to handle, so it is not a good idea to limit research and development to hydrogen-powered fuel cells at this point, the official said. 

The Dalian Insitute of Chemical Physics has recently reported progress made by its Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) research group. DMFCs have potential as portable power sources for use in notebook computers, video-cameras and other electronic devices. 
A 200W fuel cell stack integrating thirty single cells has been successfully constructed and operated. A current density of 400mA/cm2 and a maximum power density of 190mW/cm2 were attained for single cells. 

DICP's DMFC stacks use specially developed metallic composite bi-polar plates. Their conductivity is said to be high, and the cost lower than graphite bi-polar plates. 

DICP reports that noble metal loadings in its DMFCs are 1mg/cm2 on the cathode and 2mg/cm2 on the anode. Its DMFC group has developed a range of electrocatalysts, including Pt/C, PtFe/C, PtRu/C and PtRuSn/C. Particle size distribution and catalytic activity is reported to be favourable in comparison with commercially available DMFC catalyst. 

DICP has filed two US patents and four Chinese patents to protect its work, and is currently applying for three more patents. 

IdaTech’s portable FCS 1200™ fuel cell system is powering the lights on the holiday tree at the California EPA building following the office of Governor Gray Davis’ selection of the IdaTech system from among a number of other systems considered. The Governor’s office picked IdaTech because it could quickly deliver a portable, fully integrated and simple-to-use system, according to a Davis administration official.

The joint effort, which commences immediately, will focus on developing and demonstrating an improved membrane to operate in a PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell at temperatures above 90 degrees centigrade.

According to the agreement, Nuvera will work with FuMA-Tech, a BTW subsidiary that specializes in developing fuel cell membranes, to identify multiple prototype samples that meet the project's technical goals. A second phase of the program will involve qualifying the best performing prototypes and preparing MEA's (membrane electrode assemblies) for additional testing and analysis.  The two-phased program is expected to last 15 months.  In addition,
the agreement outlines actions for evolving the collaboration into the commercialization phase.