With zero-emissions capability, hydrogen fuel cells are perfectly suited to the environmental performance that will be demanded of a future generation of cars, while also delivering the added advantages of quieter, more efficient technology than the internal combustion engine (ICE).
Commercial, high-volume production of fuel cell-powered vehicles is not a short-term goal. Today most automakers believe that early stage fuel cell car commercialization is not feasible before approximately 2015, as the industry overcomes the challenges of hydrogen distribution and addresses the optimization of durability, power density, freeze start capability and cost characteristics of fuel cell products.
Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company and Ballard are shareholders in AFCC Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation Corp. (AFCC), a private company focused on the development of hydrogen fuel cells for automotive applications. AFCC is positioned for strong industry leadership in the development and deployment of automotive fuel cell technology. Management and program funding is provided by Daimler and Ford.
Ballard’s relationship with AFCC, and our minority ownership position, confer important benefits to us, including the fact that –
AFCC is an important Ballard customer, to which we provide contract technical services and fuel cell manufacturing services on a profitable basis; and
Ballard is permitted to use automotive fuel cell intellectual property owned and developed at AFCC, Daimler and Ford for use in non-automotive applications.
In the past, automotive fuel cell technology has enabled Ballard to develop high-quality and cost-effective derivative fuel cell products ideally suited to less demanding commercial applications. Examples of such derivative products include our HD6 fuel cell module (to be deployed in the bus market) and our Mark9 SSL™ fuel cell product (deployed in the materials handling market).
The Mark902™ fuel cell product powers hundreds of vehicles. Click here to see photos of those vehicles in action.
