Swedish fuel cell technology developer PowerCell Sweden AB has announced that it has received a follow-up order for fuel cell stacks from a leading undisclosed European vehicle manufacturer worth SEK 5.3 million (≈ EUR 506 000). The stacks will be delivered during the second quarter of 2019. Prior to this order the vehicle manufacturer has purchased engineering services from PowerCell and will use the now ordered stacks for tests in vehicles.
During autumn 2018, PowerCell delivered engineering services to the OEM and, among other things, assisted the manufacturer in adapting the interface between the fuel cell stack and the manufacturer´s platform. The follow-up order is for fuel cell stacks that will be used in vehicles for tests.
This is yet another proof of the automotive industry’s steadily increasing interest for fuel cell technology. The climate crisis and the increasingly tough environmental demands is pushing the industry towards electrification. For the mass-volume car market electrification using batteries is not an option due to insufficient grid capacity and lack of charging stations. A true transformation will require the use of fuel cells and hydrogen and an increasing number of manufacturers are coming to realize this, said Per Wassén, CEO of PowerCell Sweden.
Leading power density
PowerCell’s proprietary fuel cell technology has resulted in fuel cell stacks with the leading power density and compact design, making them ideal for the automotive segment where the power to weight and power to size ratio is crucial.
Based on its leading position PowerCell has been a partner in the German project Autostack Industrie (ASI), with the responsibility to design the fuel cell stack and enable large-volume production of stacks.
ASI is an industrial collaboration project that is partly funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transportation and Digital Infrastructure. The aim of the project is to develop cost-competitive series production of fuel cell stacks for electric vehicles with the commercial introduction after 2020.
The German auto manufacturers BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen and the German subsidiary of Ford, are also partners in ASI.
