13 Oct 2015 07:00
13 October 2015
(LSE: IEH; ADR: INGYY)
Working group led by Intelligent Energy to develop its proprietary 90kW EC fuel cell stack for mass manufacture
· Move marks a commitment to bringing fuel cells to the mass automotive market
· Working group members drawn from premium OEMs, a leading fuel cell manufacturer, material and stack component suppliers
· VolumetriQ is a three-year programme supported by €5 million of funding from FCH JU (Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, Grant Agreement Number 671465), a unique public private partnership supporting research, technological development activities in fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies in Europe
Loughborough (UK), 13 October 2015 - Intelligent Energy, the energy technology company, will lead a pan-European industry working group to develop its proprietary 90kW EC fuel cell automotive technology in the funded project called VolumetriQ. VolumetriQ is a three-year programme that will deliver a blueprint for stack suitability for mass manufacture and potential future industrialisation. Funded by €5 million from the European programme FCH JU, the target is to develop fuel cell stacks that can be manufactured in high volumes for use in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2020, building on Intelligent Energy's industry leading PEM fuel cell technology. In addition to the lead partner Intelligent Energy, the project will involve four industrial partners; Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells, Solvay Speciality Polymers, ElringKlinger and Pretexo; as well as academic input from CNRS Montpellier. Furthermore, BMW Group and Daimler will participate in the project to set out the stack requirements.
The three year programme got off to a great start recently as representatives from the partner businesses gathered at Intelligent Energy's Loughborough headquarters to kick off the scope of work. The programme outputs must demonstrate cost reduction, advance manufacturing technology with optimised component detail designs.
Intelligent Energy's Director of R&T, Dr Chris Dudfield, said: "Hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles are a reality for the 'here and now'. To bring them to mass market, we need to ensure our fuel cell stacks are robustly industrialised, which is the aim of this programme."
Bert de Colvenaer, Executive Director at FCH JU, commented: "Under Horizon 2020, the second generation of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU) aims to speed up the commercial deployment of fuel cells and hydrogen in Europe through the investment of €1.33bn (half public, half private funds) in a range of programmes from research to demonstration and pre-market introduction tests. The projects under FCH 2 JU will look to deliver a new generation of materials and prototypes as well as demonstrate, on a large scale, the readiness of the technology to enter the market in the fields of transport (cars, busses and refuelling infrastructure) and energy (hydrogen production and distribution, energy storage and stationary power generation)."
Dr Dudfield concluded: "The results of this programme will bring a significant opportunity to OEMs to deliver Intelligent Energy's proprietary 90kW automotive fuel cell architecture in the next generation of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) which, we believe, offers the best solution to the automotive industry to scale up the production of FCEV's and deliver vehicles that meet the demands of the consumer as well as crucially delivering zero-emissions at the tail-pipe. We are very excited to be moving our technology forward with our partners."
Ends
About Intelligent Energy
Intelligent Energy Holdings plc is an energy technology group which develops efficient and clean hydrogen fuel cell power systems for the global automotive, consumer electronics, distributed power and generation markets - from powering zero-emission vehicles to compact energy packs for mobile devices and stationary power units for the always-on infrastructure.
Working with international companies, Intelligent Energy aims to embed its technology in mass market applications to solve the challenges of continuous power and productivity, by creating everyday energy solutions to power people's lives. The Group's intellectual property and expertise is based around proprietary fuel cell technologies, which are the product of over 25 years of research and development. Its patent portfolio includes more than 900 patents granted (and over 1000 patents pending) across more than 400 patent families. The Group also maintains a significant body of confidential know-how and trade secrets.
With its principal facility and headquarters in Loughborough, UK, the company also has operations in India, Japan and Singapore, a commercial office in Silicon Valley, USA and development facilities co-located at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission in Grenoble and at NASA in Florida, USA. Intelligent Energy Holdings plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: IEH; ADR: INGYY).
More information on Intelligent Energy is available at Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Or visit www.intelligent-energy.com.
About the FCH JU
The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) is a unique public private partnership supporting research, technological development and demonstration (RTD) activities in fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies in Europe. Its aim is to accelerate the market introduction of these technologies, realising their potential as an instrument in achieving a carbon-lean energy system.
The three members of the FCH JU are the European Commission, fuel cell and hydrogen industries represented by the NEW Industry Grouping and the research community represented by Research Grouping N.ERGHY.
Further information on working group partners:
ElringKlinger : http://www.elringklinger.de/en/products-technologies/fuel-cells
Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells: www.jmfuelcells.com
Solvay Speciality Polymers: www.solvayplastics.com
CNRS Montpellier: www.aime.icgm.fr
BMW: www.bmw.com
Pretexo: www.pretexo.com
Daimler: www.daimler.com
Media Contact - Intelligent Energy
Debbie Hughes, Head of PR
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M +447885 879741
debbie.hughes@intelligent-energy.com