The e-Journal on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
In an international collaboration, scientists have developed a kind of “bio-fuel cell” that can be worn directly on the body and supplied with energy by sweat alone. At the end of September 2019, French researchers from the Département de Chimie Moléculaire (DCM), a research unit comprising CNRS (National Center De La Recherche Scientifique) and the Université Grenoble Alpes, together with …
Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) is regarded as one of the pioneers of fuel cell technology, at least in Germany. The globally active seal manufacturer is one of those automotive suppliers who see the far-reaching changes in the mobility sector as an opportunity. With the purchase of battery manufacturer XALT Energy and parts of FC supplier Elcore in 2018, the basis was laid.
While hydrogen in the maritime sector has only ever been treated as an option for the future under “far away” for years, not only the events at which this energy source is the subject of lively debate are currently on the increase, but also the reports on concrete projects.
Despite the current wave of enthusiasm about the potential of hydrogen, there is much discussion and much uncertainty about the role of synthetic fuels. If you follow the current debate, you sometimes get the impression that E-Fuels are either another saviour or a spawn of evil.
That’s how it is when theory and practice diverge: While the former VDA boss Bernhard Mattes announced a new beginning at the International Automobile Exhibition 2019 (IAA), the exhibition halls were once again full of the same fuel wasters as always.
Hydrogen-powered combustion engines seemed dead after BMW had stopped development work on H2 reciprocating piston engines years ago. This still applies to passenger cars, but not to commercial vehicles or stationary plants. In the sector of large combined heat and power plants, 2G Energy AG has long been working on making its gas engines compatible with hydrogen.
On September 10 and 11, 2019, the f-cell took place in Stuttgart for the 19th time, and as one could undoubtedly observe, the event has changed fundamentally over the years. After the focus on the trade fair in the meantime, the symposium is now more in the spotlight again.
The reports are overwhelming as far as the areas of application and potential of the fuel cell are concerned, and politicians in Germany have also finally woken up. The stock exchanges have led many FC companies into a real course euphoria. But also, contradictions find their way into the media, according to which China allegedly plans to reduce or even completely discontinue the promotion of battery-powered, but also fuel cell-powered electro-mobility. On the other hand, from a very well-informed source one hears exactly the opposite, namely that precisely the promotion of the fuel cell and the associated infrastructure in China is being set up anew, that only the battery promotion is being limited.
Forget the quarterly figures for Ballard Power this year. They are only important to analysts. The CEO already said at the beginning of the year and recently underlined in a Bloomberg interview that this calendar year will be used to build capacity in China (production of the LCS stacks together with Weichai), among other things, to position themselves, to strengthen the central production and R&D location in Vancouver, to expand the workforce and to tackle pilot projects as a basis for orders.
What a farce it was that shortsellers took advantage of toxic financing (i.e. preference shares convertible into ordinary shares) to depress FuelCell Energy’s share price and at the same time get more and more of the company’s shares onto the market – at least, this is what I think happened not too long ago. In addition, some project financing was subject to conditions that could be considered questionable (e.g. minimum return, guarantees). In addition, bank loans were used as leverage against the company, as reference was made to safety margins and termination clauses, while FuelCell did not approach restricted cash. A vicious circle.