Day 5 at CES continued the hydrogen and fuel cell streak with Fuel Cells Works spending the day talking with BeFC, NepTech, BTE, and we also spent time talking with a surprising company, eFlow.
(We will dive a bit into eFlow in a later article this week.) BeFC, of course, is doing amazing things with flexible fuel cells, paper, and glucose (see below photo). We will also be publishing the interviews we did with BeFC, NepTech, and BTE later this week.
However, Fuel Cells Works also branched out a bit and spent time at BMW’s booth where its iX was on display. Two unique things about the iX that was on display were its 31in 8K screen for the back passengers and BMW’s experimentation with digital ink (the same found in the Kindle). The digital ink on the exterior of the vehicle gives it the ability to shift color between white, grey, and black (pictured). BMW assured Fuel Cells Works that the technology is not coming to an ultimate driving experience anytime soon.
We also spent time with the Z-Wave Alliance and in particular DEN, which is making a SmartStrike device. The Z-Wave Alliance is committed to smarthome technology. DEN’s SmartStrike can be built into doorways that allow doors to be secured either with a traditional key or by way of a smartphone.
Unlike other similar products where something bulky is placed on the door itself or next to the door, the SmartStrike is built into the door frame providing an additional layer of security. While some devices are very visible with the SmartStrike being built into the door there is no obvious way for anyone to know at first glance what layers of security may be protecting a home or office.
Another interesting device that Fuel Cells Works came upon at CES was Graphene Squared’s Graphene Kitchen Styler (GKS). Unlike traditional countertop devices that use convection, metal wires, or cast iron to cook something, the Graphene Kitchen Styler gets really smart about how it cooks. Basically, the GKS uses a couple of layers of glass and graphene on the top and bottom of the device, and then runs an electrical current through the graphene.
The effect of the electrical current through the graphene is that it allows the graphene to heat up the glass to about 300 Celsius, which is plenty hot enough to quickly cook everything from a piece of bread to a New York Strip Steak. Perhaps best of all is that a majority of the moisture does not escape from the device, and it uses a much lower amount of electricity to do the job when compared to any other device.
Fuel Cells Works also visited with Effa which is a company that is trying to reduce the waste caused by toothbrushes and razors. The majority of an Effa toothbrush or razor is made from paper that comes from sugar cane. Not only does this reduce plastic waste, but it also allows the majority of both items to biodegrade.
While the hydrogen and fuel cell industry had a decent breadth and depth of representation, it was also interesting to see how many people were looking for answers from the industry. More than once your correspondent came across people who knew something about hydrogen and fuel cells, but were thirsting for more knowledge. On other occasions when your correspondent would ask a maker of a, for example, drone why it had not used fuel cells, the answer almost always was due to a lack of knowledge of fuel cell technology.
In a number of ways, the hydrogen and fuel cell industry at CES represented where the cybersecurity industry was back in 2002, where almost everyone knew precious little about cybersecurity despite the looming threats the global populous was facing from an ever-greater connected world. While today many people still are unfamiliar with the hydrogen and fuel cell industry, global events such as record temperatures last year in Washington and fires across the globe are forcing people to try and incorporate as much as possible zero emission technology into their lives.
As Sir David Attenborough put it at COP26, the people who are now being affected by climate change are no longer some distant generation. Instead, young people today are facing days where smoke from forest fires prevent them from going to school, or smog filled skies show part of the cost from decades of neglect by “adults.” The representation of the hydrogen and fuel cell industry at CES 2022 was a perfect example of an industry stepping up to the plate at the exact time so many people are searching for hope now and in the future. The industry proved that whatever a person’s zero emission needs are, they can all be met using hydrogen and fuel cells. Continue to stay tuned this week as Fuel Cells Works releases additional content from last week’s CES 2022!
Fuel Cells Works would also like to give a special thanks to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). The CTA did an exemplary job of meeting adversity head-on, and in so doing it still managed to pull off an impressive CES 2022 in Las Vegas.
Jesse Lyon, Contributor
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