FuelCellsWorks

Premier Gordon Campbell helped to welcome ‘Bus 1’, the first of BC Transit’s fleet of 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses. The fleet begins operation in Whistler next month.

Premier Gordon Campbell and Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway Stockwell Day celebrated the arrival of the first bus of what will become the world’s largest single hydrogen fuel cell bus fleet today in Vancouver.

“The arrival of “Bus 1” of the hydrogen fuel cell bus is a major step forward as we work to build a Hydrogen Highway that stretches from Whistler to Victoria and beyond,” said Premier Campbell.  “This fleet will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,800 tonnes per year in B.C. and – when the world comes to our province in 2010 – it will showcase British Columbia’s expertise in cutting-edge hydrogen and fuel cell technology to the world.”

“Our government is proud that our country’s first hydrogen fuel cell bus is being unveiled today, to be used during the 2010 Olympics,” said Minister Day.  “By investing in the development of green buses and refueling stations, we are creating jobs today and also ensuring that British Columbia is a world leader in hydrogen fuel cell technology.”

The 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses will be in operation as part of the BC Transit fleet in Whistler during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and beyond.  It will be the world’s largest hydrogen fuel cell bus fleet operating in a single location.

“The introduction of this new bus represents a major milestone for BC Transit. Not only is it the first hydrogen bus, but it’s also the thousandth bus within our fleet,” said BC Transit president and CEO Manuel Achadinha. “This bus, along with the other 19, represents our ongoing commitment to investing in greener technologies.”

Total funding for the hydrogen fuel cell bus project, covering capital and operating costs to March 2014, is $89.5 million.  $45 million is from the Government of Canada and $44.5 million is from the Province and BC Transit.

The development of a hydrogen bus fleet is part of B.C.’s commitment to fuel cell technologies and the Hydrogen Highway as part of the overall plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020. The Hydrogen Highway is a government-industry initiative seeking to accelerate the demonstration and commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies from British Columbia to California. For more information on the Hydrogen Highway, go to: www.hydrogenhighway.ca

The new buses produce no smog-creating emissions and no greenhouse gases at the tailpipe.  Hydrogen is combined with oxygen in the fuel cell to electrochemically produce electricity.  Heat and water are the only by-products.  Operating 20 fuel cell buses over one year will eliminate more than 1800 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to a diesel fleet of the same number of buses.

By 2020, the $14 billion Provincial Transit Plan will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4.7 million tonnes cumulatively and double transit ridership to more than 400 million trips per year.

The modified Toshiba T002 handset

The latest prototype cell phone based on a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) made its debut on Tuesday at the Ceatec show in Japan.

The modified Toshiba T002 handset is being shown by Japanese carrier KDDI as a research and development device and shows some improvements in technology based on previous prototypes, but there’s still no word on when a phone based on the technology will be available.

DMFCs produce electricity from a reaction between methanol, water and air. The only by-products are a small amount of water vapor and carbon dioxide, so DMFCs are often seen as a greener source of energy than traditional batteries.

In the prototype mobile phone, the fuel-cell unit also includes a lithium ion battery. The battery is needed to cope with the spikes in power demand from the mobile phone between times when it sits idle and when it’s used to make a call or browse the web. The fuel cell is best suited to supplying a constant amount of power so the battery acts as a buffer to ensure the mobile phone works smoothly.

That combination gives the phone an overall life, on a single charge of methanol, of about 320 hours. That’s about three days longer than the commercial T002 phone can manage.

But the biggest advantage of DFMC isn’t the longer battery life but that it can be refilled in seconds with a squirt of methanol rather than having to wait an hour or two for the battery to be recharged.

For now, the addition of a fuel cell means the phone’s thickness is about twice that of the equivalent commercial version of the phone. But at 22 millimetres this latest version is about half the thickness of a prototype shown several years ago and KDDI said it continues to work towards a thinner handset.

The phone is based on a fuel cell developed by Toshiba.

Toshiba has been promising a commercial battery charger based on the same fuel-cell technology for several months but has yet to announce a commercial product. Two months ago, the company’s new president said it would be launched by the end of September but that deadline passed a few days ago without anymore information on the device.

The charger will be a portable device that can be used to charge the batteries in portable gadgets such as mobile phones, music players and portable game devices instead of plugging them into an electrical outlet.

VANCOUVER–Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLD; NASDAQ: BLDP) congratulates BC Transit, the Province of British Columbia, the Government of Canada, and its consortium partners on the introduction of the first bus in BC Transit’s fleet of 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses. Representatives from Ballard were on site as Premier Gordon Campbell unveiled “Bus 1″ on Friday, October 3, 2009 in Vancouver. BC Transit’s fleet will become the largest single deployment of zero-emission fuel cell buses worldwide and it is powered by Ballard’s heavy-duty fuel cell module, the FCvelocity(TM)-HD6.

“All of us at Ballard are proud of to be partners in helping BC lead the way in adopting new technologies that support sustainable practices and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said John Sheridan, Ballard’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “The BC Transit fuel cell bus fleet is an important proof point for the level of robustness and durability offered by Ballard clean energy products – not only in buses but also in material handling and stationary power.”

Fuel cell buses are zero-emission vehicles, with no greenhouse gases, particulates, or harmful emissions released during operation. Water is the only byproduct. BC Transit’s fleet of fuel cell buses is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 1,800 tonnes per year in British Columbia.

Ballard’s FCvelocity(TM)-HD6 is ideal for integration into bus applications. It is designed to be a plug-and-play solution for any fuel cell or hybrid fuel cell bus platform and to be robust and durable in harsh motive conditions. The BC Transit fleet is the first that incorporates Ballard’s heavy-duty fuel cell module into a hybrid fuel cell/battery architecture with an electric drive, which enables higher vehicle efficiency and improved fuel cell durability.

BC Transit’s fleet of fuel cell buses will operate in revenue service in the Resort Municipality of Whistler, British Columbia during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and beyond.

About Ballard Power Systems

Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLD; NASDAQ: BLDP) is recognized as a world leader in the design, development, manufacture and sale of clean energy fuel cell products. Ballard’s mission is to accelerate fuel cell product adoption. To learn more about what Ballard is doing with Power to Change the World(R), visit www.ballard.com.

Berlin, Germany–Heliocentris Fuel Cells AG, a leading system integrator for fuel cells, announces its acquisition of a major order for the delivery of an autonomous power supply solution for the University of Applied Sciences Wildau in Germany. The complete solution will be used to supply energy to selected applications in a building and shall serve as a link between training and applied research. The project has a total volume of nearly half a million Euros.

The complete solution is a hybrid energy storage system consisting of a battery, fuel cell, electrolyser and adapted power electronics that can store solar or wind-generated power to be generated in the building. This allows for a self-sufficient total solution regardless of solar radiation or wind availability. In addition to the integration of four of the just launched Heliocentris Nexa 1200 fuel cell systems, one of the key aspects of the project is the development of hardware and software for energy management. The energy management delivered by Heliocentris will manage and optimise all energy flows within the system to ensure maximum availability of energy. It is planned to further optimise the energy management jointly with the customer during the test phase of the solution.

Dr. Henrik Colell, CEO, commented: “We are proud to be able to realise such a completely integrated solution for a customer and therefore consider ourselves very much in line with the trend of offering intelligent storage solutions for renewable energies. Heliocentris’ expertise in hydrogen and fuel cells, as well as in providing management solutions for more complex energy systems will come to fruition in this project.”

Thomas Lehne, Chancellor of the University of Applied Sciences Wildau: “The Department Physics Engineering is one of the leading of our strongly research oriented University. We have the expectation that the cooperation with Heliocentris will not be limited to the pure power supply technology but will lead to new impulses also in the field of energy management of renewable energies.”