Making Fuel Cells Durable, Affordable

February 13, 2005 – Vol.9 No.47

MAKING FUEL CELLS DURABLE, AFFORDABLE.

When hydrogen and oxygen mix within a fuel cell stack, fresh water is formed. If water, as moisture, is still in the stack when it is shut down in below freezing temperatures that water will freeze, at best rendering the fuel cell inoperative until it thaws.

Freezing fuel cells are a big problem. Many think that hydrogen fuel cells are the replacement for the internal combustion engine, the ICE. The ICE can start-up (though sometimes with necessary prewarming) in any sub-freezing location on the planet, pole-to-pole.

Fuel cells must also be durable, have a life as long as an ICE (now frequently 200,000 miles or more) and be affordable.

Ballard Power Systems says that with improvements its fuel cell design can start up repeatedly in temperatures as low as -4 degrees F (-20 degrees C) and operate for more than 2000 hours, the equivalent of more than 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) believes that fuel cells must have a life of at least 5000 hours equal to 155,000 miles (250,000 kilometers). The DOE goal reflects what consumers might expect for longevity.

Ballard also says that it has reduced the amount of platinum in its fuel cell stack design by 30 percent; that should help bring costs down. Platinum is one of the most expensive components of fuel cell stacks.

The company does not say what a fuel cell engine for a typical vehicle might cost, but does say that it they are on their way to making fuel cells for vehicles commercially viable by 2010.

Visit Ballard at http://www.ballard.com/