Fuel Cell News

First Flight, Powered by Fuel Cell

July 9th

On July 7th in Hamburg Germany the first flight occurred, the first powered by a fuel cell. The Antares DLR-H2 left the ground at 1pm Germany time. She has a wingspan of 20 meters, 8 meters broader than the Wright Flyer of 1903.

Basically Antares is a standard motorized glider retro-fitted with a fuel cell drive. She has a cruising range of 750km (466miles.) Top speed is 170kph (106mph.).

Tokyo Gas & Sanyo Start Residential FC Deployment

July 9th


A joint venture between Tokyo Gas and Sanyo Electric Cell have produced an affordable residential fuel cell application. The device retails for ~$36,000 (US) for a single install, and currently the Japanese govt. is providing a $14,600 (US) subsidy to purchase these devices. Putting the price nearer to $20,000 (US.) The device can produce .3kw up to 1kW, much less than would be required for a western house, but certainly usable for a typical Japanese home. ATR will try to find a installation and speak to the residents about performance.

Suzuki Stock Gains on Volkswagen Partnership Rumor

June 28th


Suzuki Hydrogen Fuel Cell Motorcycle

Suzuki stock jumped 5.5% on Friday (6/26) after rumors appeared that Volkswagen was interested in Suzuki's small car, electric and fuel cell portfolio.

Volkswagen is apparently considering taking a 10% stake, although current partnerships with Fiat and others may hamper the German desire.

Suzuki has been teaming with GM on hydrogen and hybrid vehicles.

Horizon Fuel Cell Singapore Makes Smaller Cell

June 6th

The Singaporean Fuel Cell Company Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has improved the performance and in particular the endurance of its AeroPak power system. Used primarly to power drone aircraft.

"as much as 300 percent" or "up to four times the endurance capability of advanced lithium batteries currently in use."

$42 Million in New Fuel Cell Funding

April 17th

WASHINGTON - Department of Energy officials announced $41.9 million in fuel cell funding to system deployment.

The money will supplement $72.4 million that the companies have promised to devote to the deployment of fuel-cell systems. The recipients include FedEx Corp. (FDX), which will receive $1.3 million to deploy 35 fuel-cell systems to replace batteries for a fleet of electric-lift trucks at its Springfield, Missouri, service center.

New Electrolysis Method Discovered

April 13th

A unique approach developed by Professor David Milstein at the Weizmann Institute’s Organic Chemistry Department, make huge steps in making this process more effcient. His demonstrated a new mode of bond generation between oxygen atoms. It is the generation of oxygen gas by the formation of a bond between two oxygen atoms originating from water molecules that proves to be the bottleneck in the water splitting process. Their results have recently been published in Science.

AIST Exhibits Sugar-cube sized Fuel Cell

February 17th


The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has developed an extremely small SOFC (solid-oxide fuel cell) that can operate at temperatures near 550°C. Each cylindrical cell was substantially downsized to increase the ratio of electrode area to volume. Despite its small size, the fuel cell has a high power output.

Japanese Firms To Start Selling Home Use Fuel Cell Systems

January 29th

Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Toho Gas, Saibu Gas, Nippon Oil, Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsubishi announced today that they will sell 5,000 units of Ene Farm brand home-use fuel cell system starting May 1st. The system cost approx 3.2 million yen (~$35,000) but enjoys a govt. subsidy of 1.4 million yen.

This compares with 500,000 to 700,000 yen for Eco Cute electricity-powered water heaters sold by power suppliers. So far, cumulative Eco Cute sales have reached 1.6 million units

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2990159

US Fuel Cell Council Requests $1.2 billion

January 7th

The U.S. Fuel Cell Council has asked incoming president Barack Obama's transition team for an unprecedented $1.2 billion dollars to invest into developing fuel cell technology. Citing the budget as a job growth investment.
Fuel Cell Stimulus (pdf)

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