VANCOUVER, CANADA – Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP; TSX: BLDP) today announced that the Company’s proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology and products have now successfully powered Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles – or FCEVs – in commercial Heavy- and Medium-Duty Motive applications for an industry-leading cumulative total of more than 30 million kilometers (18.5 million miles) on roads around the globe.
Ballard has a long track record of having its PEM fuel cell technology and products integrated into FCEVs to provide zero-emission motive power for vehicle propulsion. This includes in excess of 570 Fuel Cell Electric Buses (FCEBs) and 2,000 commercial trucks currently deployed in Asia, Europe and North America. Some of the FCEBs that have been operating for over 8-years in the field have now exceeded 35,000 hours of revenue service with no major fuel cell maintenance requirements.
“We are grateful to our customers who continue to trust Ballard to deliver safe, durable, reliable and high-performing PEM fuel cell products and technology for commercial FCEVs,” said Randy MacEwen, Ballard President and CEO. “Commercial vehicles powered by Ballard technology have on road experience that totals more than 30 million kilometers, which is roughly equivalent to circling the globe 750 times. Our products have powered FCEBs and commercial trucks in 14 countries around the world, and delivered 97.3% availability in 2019. Ballard’s unmatched field experience – through eight generations of fuel cell power module and a wide range of duty cycles, climate and road conditions – has enabled an effective feedback loop for our product design and development efforts, resulting in the fuel cell industry’s highest performance products designed for Heavy- and Medium-Duty Motive applications, including bus, commercial truck, train and marine.”
In 2019, Ballard launched the FCgen®-LCS next-generation PEM fuel cell stack along with FCmoveTM, the Company’s 8th-generation fuel cell power module (pictured above).
The use cases for which Ballard products have been deployed in the field are strongly aligned with use cases examined in the Hydrogen Council’s “Path to Hydrogen Competitiveness: A cost perspective” report and the Deloitte China-Ballard “Fueling the Future of Mobility: Hydrogen and fuel cell solutions for transportation” white paper, both of which were issued earlier in January 2020. These reports showed that certain use cases for hydrogen FCEVs can be competitive with other low-carbon alternatives and, in some cases, even conventional options by 2030.
About Ballard Power Systems
Ballard Power Systems’ (NASDAQ: BLDP; TSX: BLDP) vision is to deliver fuel cell power for a sustainable planet. Ballard zero-emission PEM fuel cells are enabling electrification of mobility, including buses, commercial trucks, trains, marine vessels, passenger cars, forklift trucks and UAVs. To learn more about Ballard, please visit www.ballard.com.
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