Press Releases for 2010

February 23, 2010 - Fuel Cells Greening the Grocery

Press Releases for 2009

July 13, 2009 - Fuel Cells Boarding Buses Around World

June 17, 2009 - World Automakers Reaffirm Fuel Cell Commercialization Time Tables

April 23, 2009 - Materials Handling Giving Fuel Cell Industry Major Lift

April 17, 2009 - Fuel Cells 2000 Lauds Major Announcements in Fuel Cell Industry

April 16, 2009 - Fuel Cell Buses Embraced Among Transit Agencies and Passengers; Performance and Reliability Better than Expected in Revenue Service

Fuel Cells Greening the Grocery

(Washington, DC – February 23, 2010). In recent months, several major supermarket chains have turned to fuel cell technology to not only power their stores, but also stock their shelves with fuel cell-powered forklifts in distribution warehouses.

Fuel cells are a good fit for a large supermarket, not only because they greatly reduce emissions, but because a fuel cell’s waste heat can be captured and used to heat the store in winter, as well as run air conditioning and refrigeration systems. A fuel cell can generate almost 100% of a store’s hot water needs while providing reliable power. For materials handling, the benefits include shorter refueling time, longer run time and a recent study by Argonne National Laboratory estimates that fuel cell lift trucks produce 63% less greenhouse gas emissions than battery systems.

In 2008, Whole Foods Market became the first grocery store to install a fuel cell at a new store in Connecticut. The 200-kW UTC Power PureCell® fuel cell generates 50% of the store’s power, 100% of the hot water, and waste heat is used in the heating and cooling system. The fuel cell also provides back up power in case of a grid outage.

According to UTC Power and Whole Food, each year, the fuel cell reduces the store's carbon footprint by 90 metric tons, NOx emissions by 2 metric tons and saves more than 4 million gallons of water.

Since that installation, Whole Foods has expanded its fuel cell portfolio to three stationary systems and more than 60 fuel cell forklifts and other supermarket chains are following suit.

• Whole Foods has installed a 400-kW fuel cell system in a new store in Massachusetts and has purchased another 400-kW unit for new store in San Jose, California. The fuel cell will prevent the release of more than 370 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.
• Price Chopper installed a fuel cell system in a new store in Colonie, New York that generates 60% of the store’s power. This location earned the highest EPA level of green certification ever given to a grocery store.
• Whole Foods purchased 61 Plug Power GenDrive™ fuel cell-powered forklifts for use in its Landover, Maryland, distribution center.
• H-E-B bought 14 Nuvera Power Edge forklifts for their San Antonio Perishable Distribution Center.
• Central Grocers has ordered 220 Yale forklifts, powered by PlugPower’s GenDrive™ fuel cells, to be used in a new distribution center being built in Joliet, Illinois. Central Grocers estimates their carbon emissions will be reduced by one-third through the use of fuel cell forklifts, and that they will see a cost savings of $1.5 million dollars over the next 10 years.
• Wegman’s is purchasing 50 new pallet trucks and nine forklifts with the GenDrive™ fuel cell system in their Pottsville, Pennsylvania distribution facility.
• Super Store Industries has made two purchases of methanol fuel cell-powered forklifts from Oorja Protonics for its Lathrop, California, freezer facility.

Several states offer grants or tax incentives to encourage companies to install fuel cells and other renewable energy systems and there is a Federal fuel cell tax credit that helps alleviate the initial cost.

For more information on the projects listed above, federal or state policies and tax credits, or fuel cells in general, please visit www.fuelcells.org or contact Jennifer Gangi at jennifer@fuelcells.org.

Fuel Cells Boarding Buses Around World

(Washington, DC – July 13, 2009)  With much of the focus on light-duty vehicles as a means for carbon and oil reduction, zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell buses have been quietly servicing passengers all around the world for years, with a recent surge of interest and many new orders on the way. 

In addition to the great reduction in greenhouse gases that fuel cells provide, other benefits of fuel cell buses include a smooth, quiet ride and centralized fueling.   There are at least ten bus manufacturers working with fuel cell developers and transit agencies to put these vehicles in service.

Recent fuel cell bus developments include:

• 20 new fuel cell buses will be provided by New Flyer Industries to BC Transit for demanding routes at the 2010 Winter Olympics in British Columbia and will remain in revenue service after the Olympics.  These buses have demonstrated full freeway speed capability and fully loaded climb of a 20% grade starting from a stop.

• Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) in California has 12 Van Hool buses with UTC Power fuel cell systems on order.  This is in addition to the three fuel cell buses already in its fleet that have travelled more than 165,000 miles with an overall fuel economy 70 percent better than a control fleet of like diesel buses.

• UTC Power PureMotion® 120 fuel cell systems are also powering buses at SunLine Transit in California, CT Transit in Connecticut, and at DeLijn in Belgium; CT Transit will add four more fuel cell buses later this year. 

• Latin America´s first hydrogen-powered public transport bus began a two-month test in São Paulo, Brazil on July 1st.  After the trial, the bus will be incorporated into the regular fleet, with the goal of 4 hydrogen buses by June 2010.

• Daimler recently unveiled its new Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid bus in Vienna and starting in 2010, will deploy ten of these buses for operation in Hamburg.  Shell is adding hydrogen pumps to four public filling stations to support the vehicles.

• Daimler’s bus program already has deployed 36 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses in 12 cities in Europe, Australia and China, logging more than 1.3 million miles and  139,000 hours, and serving more than 8 million passengers.  Since 2000, the company has invested approximately US$111 million in their fuel cell bus program.

• A 40-passenger Hydrogenics fuel cell bus will be commissioned this month in Gladbeck, Germany as part of the Rampini Fuel Cell bus project.   Additional models are expected to be ready for procurement after testing is complete. Ten Hydrogenics fuel cell powered hybrid MidiBuses are already in operation in Germany.

• Hydogenics also has contracts to provide fuel cell power modules to bus manufacturers Proterra for hydrogen hybrid transit bus deployments in California, South Carolina, Texas and Washington, and EVAmerica for a hydrogen transit bus for Birmingham, Alabama.

• NASA's Glenn Research Center is working on a prototype of a commercial renewable hydrogen fueling station to fuel a fuel cell transit bus for the Cleveland area.

• ISE Corporation currently has commitments for delivery of 28 fuel cell buses, with a production line in place at its Poway, California facility. ISE can deliver a fuel cell bus in just a few months.

• The Hydrogen Bus Alliance, which includes Canada, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Columbia, Cologne, Hamburg, London, Madrid, South Tyrol, and Western Australia, is aggregating orders and projecting price reductions to the $1M level in the next six years (by 2015), with expectations of 50 buses per city.

To see how transit agencies and their riders feel about the fuel cell and hydrogen bus demonstrations, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) sponsored “A Report on Worldwide Hydrogen Bus Demonstrations, 2002-2007.”  The study surveyed participants in California and Connecticut, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Iceland, China, Japan and Australia.  Reliability and performance were better than expected.  A number of other demonstrations are in the planning stage.  See http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/ReportOnWorldwideHydrogenBusDemonstrations_2002to2007.pdf

World Automakers Reaffirm Fuel Cell Commercialization Time Tables

(Washington, DC – June 17, 2009)  Automakers are affirming and in some cases accelerating their fuel cell commercialization time tables this summer despite the current controversy over U.S. funding for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. 

The 10-year U.S. fuel cell vehicle development program is more than halfway complete and has met or exceeded nearly all technical milestones.  Ending it now could put the U.S. at a disadvantage at a time when other countries such as Germany and Japan are ramping up their commercialization plans.  Based on the public record, the world’s largest automakers clearly see fuel cell vehicles as an integral part of their technology response to global warming and energy security.

Anyone who last looked at fuel cell vehicles a few years ago has missed an exceptional acceleration in technology and commercialization and a great high-tech story.

Here are some of the most recent industry announcements and achievements:

• Major automakers are pursuing early market testing with consumers beginning this year, and are expected to ramp up production to nearly 50,000 vehicles in California by 2017, a deployment estimate made public by the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a government-industry consortium.

• Daimler announced it is beginning small series production this summer of its Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell vehicle with plans to increase to tens of thousands of vehicles in the 2015-2017 timeframe. Starting in 2010, a total of ten Daimler latest-generation fuel cell buses will be in operation in Hamburg, plus 20 B-Class fuel cell cars.  Shell is adding hydrogen pumps to four public filling stations to support the vehicles.

• Honda FCX Clarity was named “World Green Car of the Year” at NY Auto Show and is currently being leased in small numbers in Southern California and Japan.  The Clarity received an EPA certified fuel economy of 72 mpg.

• Toyota reaffirmed its commitment to commercialization in 2015, and said it may accelerate the time table to 2014.  Toyota’s FCH-adv is regularly achieving a range of 340-370 miles, has achieved a 480 mile range in tests.

• Kia’s Borrego fuel cell vehicle also has a range of 340-370 miles.

• General Motors currently has 110 fuel cell vehicles on road in U.S.

• Volkswagen, which has not been a visible fuel cell advocate until recently, confirmed that it remains committed to building fuel cells for its hydrogen-powered vehicles.

• An industry consortium in Japan announced a “commitment” to commercialization in 2015.

• The influential United Kingdom, Institute of Mechanical Engineers, issued a strong statement urging the UK Government to pursue a portfolio of technology options, to avoid potentially “catastrophic” consequences.

Several automakers came to Capitol Hill last week to make the case for fuel cells.  Go to http://www.hydrogenassociation.org/policy/briefing_12jun09.asp and www.usfcc.com to see why they believe fuel cells need to be part of the advanced vehicle technology portfolio.

Materials Handling Giving Fuel Cell Industry Major Lift

(Washington, DC – April 23, 2009)  Recent purchases and commitments from big-name corporations and the U.S. government for fuel cell-powered forklifts are providing a major lift to the industry.  Fuel Cells 2000 estimates that there are approximately 500 systems currently in operation around the world, with at least 500 orders coming down the pike.

“We’ve seen large purchases of fuel cell forklifts from companies around the U.S., and substantial interest offshore” said Jennifer Gangi, Program Director of Fuel Cells 2000, a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC. “Customers are finding that fuel cells provide savings on several fronts – economic, environmental and workforce productivity.  In other words, customers can save money by converting to fuel cells.”

A recent study by Argonne National Laboratory estimates that fuel cell lift trucks produce 63% less greenhouse gas emissions than battery systems, but that’s not the only savings. Batteries are heavy and take up a lot of storage space while only providing up to 6 hours of run time.  Fuel cells last more than twice as long (12-14 hours) and there is no more need for battery storage and changing rooms, leaving more warehouse space for products.  The greatly reduced fueling times – one or two minutes by the forklift operator compared to 20-30 minutes or more for each refill also saves valuable time.

Central Grocers, a 200-store Chicago-area chain, recently purchased 220 fuel cell forklifts for its new warehouse in Joliet, IL, opening later in 2009.  Central estimates it will save $1.5 million over 10 years by going fuel cell.  Other companies already using the technology include Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware, Bridgestone/Firestone, Federal Express and the Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency, which happens to be the second largest warehouse operation in the United States. 

The Department of Energy recently announced $41.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding that will support the immediate deployment of fuel cell forklifts around the country.  Companies that have already received funding for more than 200 forklifts include Anheuser-Busch, Sysco, GENCO, and East Penn Manufacturing. 

There is also a federal tax credit to make the transition more attractive - $3,000 per kilowatt tax credit for purchase of the fuel cell, and a 30% credit for the cost of installing hydrogen infrastructure, up to $200,000. 

Fuel Cells 2000 Lauds Major Announcements in Fuel Cell Industry

(Washington, DC – April 17, 2009)  Just in time for Earth Day, a fuel cell vehicle, the Honda FCX Clarity, has been named International Green Car of the Year, just the latest evidence of the exceptional progress fuel cells are making toward commercialization in all applications.  This is the first in a series of memos reporting on some of that progress.

“People who last examined fuel cells a few years ago should take a fresh look at the progress made in automobiles, hydrogen fueling and other market areas where fuel cells’ high energy efficiency and reliability, climate change and economic benefits are starting to bear fruit,” said Jennifer Gangi, Program Director of Fuel Cells 2000, a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC.

“The FCX clarity is an utterly real, hydrogen-fuelled luxury sedan that provides the amenities people expect in a premium car with 430 km range, fuel consumption of about 3.3 liters/100 km (72 mpg US) equivalent and zero tailpipe emissions,” reported the jurors at the New York International Auto Show, which made the award. The jurors also noted “While there is only so much the automotive industry can do when it comes to this technology - governments need to come onboard to help create a true refueling infrastructure.”

“Fuel cell vehicles have logged three million highway miles in real-world testing, with more than 50,000 hydrogen fill-ups from more than 150 fueling stations worldwide,” said Gangi. 

The auto industry expects to field more than 4,000 fuel cell vehicles in California alone over the next several years.

Fuel cells are cost-competitive today against batteries in commercial markets for industrial vehicles such as forklifts, backup power for telecommunications, recreation, consumer electronics and some residential energy markets. Visit www.fuelcells.org for reports, presentations, charts, databases and other comprehensive information on fuel cells.

Fuel Cell Buses Embraced Among Transit Agencies and Passengers; Performance and Reliability Better than Expected in Revenue Service

(Washington, DC - April 16, 2009) Fuel cell buses have operated successfully in public transit fleets around the world, according to a new report written for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) by the Breakthrough Technologies Institute (BTI) and the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE).

The report examined hydrogen bus demonstrations in 19 cities in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Among other things, the report found that the vast majority of buses performed better than expected and were very popular among passengers. The buses also were popular with drivers, many of whom reported being less tired at the end of their shifts, primarily because fuel cell buses make significantly less noise than their internal combustion counterparts.

“Fuel cell buses were more reliable, better performing, and easier to integrate into public transportation fleets than many had expected,” said William Vincent, a lead author of the report. “With additional research and development, they hold real promise to reduce pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and petroleum dependence in public transportation fleets.”

The fuel cell buses typically were operated daily in 16-hour duty cycles. Collectively, they covered more than 1.6 million miles and served more than seven million passengers. The fuel cells were much more reliable than many transit agencies had expected and the operating life was increased significantly over previous generations of fuel cell technology. For example, fuel cells in the European demonstrations averaged over 3,000 hours operating life, with a maximum of 5,000 hours. Moreover, the hydrogen fueling stations proved to be very safe. The buses were refueled more than 11,000 times without any major incident.

Based upon this success, most transit agencies that demonstrated fuel cell buses are eager to deploy larger fleets in the future. In fact, AC Transit in California recently purchased four additional fuel cell buses and BC Transit in British Columbia purchased a fleet of 20 fuel cell buses. Many transit agencies also called for enhanced government support for fuel cell buses, thus enabling more buses to be deployed in a shorter timeframe.

The report, “A Report on Worldwide Hydrogen Bus Demonstrations, 2002-2007,” can be downloaded free from the FTA’s website: http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/ReportOnWorldwideHydrogenBusDemonstrations_2002to2007.pdf