Hydrogen Fuel Cell Reaches 10,000 Hours Runtime

Great progress has been made recently in the development of cleaner fuel solutions for motor vehicles: According to Fleet News, a hydrogen fuel cell has reached 10,000 hours’ runtime without showing any significant signs of degradation.

In an automotive industry durability test, the PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) hydrogen fuel cell surpassed the 300,000-mile mark, making it comparable to its diesel counterpart.

This is an outstanding accomplishment given that it exceeds the US Department of Energy target to achieve 5,000 hours by 2017.

Testing took place over 16 months and saw the fuel cell mimic a 40-minute car journey with a start-stop at the end of each cycle. Fleet News explains: “This particular test is employed to accelerate aging and to stress wear on car engines and fuel cell systems over time”

The new technology enables a competitive fuel cell drive-train with a power output of 100kW. This is equivalent to that of a 2-litre diesel engine. It is expected that many big name manufacturers will launch fuel cell vehicles by 2015.

Greg McCray, CEO of ACAL Energy (Proprietors of the fuel cell), said: "With our technology, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can drive over 500 miles per tank of fuel, and can be refuelled in less than five minutes, emitting only water. For a driver, the only difference from driving an internal combustion engine car is what’s going in the tank, but for the environment the significance of zero carbon emissions is enormous."

(image by ponsulak/ freedigitalphotos.net)

(Source: Fleet News)