Ballard Power Systems announced June 4 that its
Mark 900 series fuel cell has powered DaimlerChrysler's NECAR 5 fuel
cell vehicle in its drive from San Francisco, California to
Washington, D.C. The successful completion of this 13-day, 3,000 mile
(4,800 kilometer) endurance test is the world's first for a fuel cell
vehicle.
The NECAR 5 is a Mercedes-Benz A Class vehicle powered by a
Ballard fuel cell engine generating 75 kilowatts of power. Hydrogen
is generated onboard the vehicle from methanol, utilizing a fuel
processor developed by Ballard.
"This historic journey demonstrates the capabilities of Ballard
fuel cells as we look to power the future," said Firoz Rasul,
Ballard's chairman and chief executive officer. "The valuable system
and operational data gathered by Ballard's Transportation Division
engineers will play an important role in the development of our
commercial fuel cell engines. This endurance test provides Ballard
with real-world experience in testing its fuel cell engine in a
variety of conditions including differing altitudes, temperatures and
humidities that cannot be matched through lab testing. Through this
testing Ballard gained significant insight into optimizing the
operating parameters of the complete fuel cell engine, including the
fuel cell, fuel processor and overall system controls."
Ballard Power Systems claims to be recognized as the world leader in
developing, manufacturing and marketing zero-emission proton exchange
membrane ("PEM") fuel cells. Ballard says it is commercializing fuel cell
engines for transportation applications and fuel cell systems for
portable and stationary products ranging from 1 kilowatt to 250
kilowatts. Ballard is also commercializing electric drives for fuel
cell and battery-powered electric vehicles, power conversion products
for fuel cells and other distributed generation products, and is an automotive supplier of friction materials for power train
components.
Ballard says its proprietary technology is enabling automobile,
bus, electrical equipment, portable power and stationary product
manufacturers to develop environmentally clean products for sale.
Ballard says it is partnering with DaimlerChrysler, Ford, EBARA, ALSTOM and FirstEnergy, to commercialize
Ballard fuel cells. Ballard claims to have supplied fuel cells to Honda,
Nissan, Volkswagen, Yamaha, Cinergy, Coleman Powermate and Matsushita
Electric Works.
0 Comments
See all comments