Strong Chinese Presence, Fuel Cell Audi Debut Mark
10th Anniversary Hannover Fair

HANNOVER - A lightweight compressed hydrogen tank with radically different architecture, the first public outing of Fiat's Nuvera-powered Seicento fuel cell car, a strong Chinese presence, and wind-generated hydrogen on a small Norwegian island were among the highlights of the 10th anniversary Hydrogen + Fuel Cell Group Exhibit at the huge Hannover Industrial Fair here April 19-24.

Audi's first ever fuel cell car, the A2H2, on display at the Hannover Fair.

But the real surprise in the Tech Transfer Exhibit Hall, about half a mile or so away from the main hydrogen and fuel cell exhibit, was what might be described as the stealth debut of Volkswagen Corp.'s first-ever fuel cell car, the - Shades of Star Wars! - A2H2. Built by the company's Audi division, it is based on the futuristic A2 model which is not sold in the United States. The A2H2 is powered by a Ballard Power Systems fuel cell, but more on that later.

The centennial show attracted 114 exhibitors and forum participants - 15 more than last year - from 24 countries. Total exhibit space was 1440 sq.m., also up from 1355 sq.m. last year. Companies and institutions showing their products ranged from 3M, St. Paul, MN (fuel cell components) and AccaGen, Cannobio, Switzerland (electrolyzers) to the Kunming Institute of Precious Metals, Kunming, Yunnan, P.R. China, the University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania, and Vattenfall Europe, Berlin (utility).

The continued growth was welcome vindication for the hydrogen and fuel cell exhibit that almost didn't happen. At the end of last year's fair, the organizers of the main event, Deutsche Messe AG, announced they would change the frequency of the energy exhibit, which includes many technologies other than hydrogen and fuel cells, to a biannual cycle instead of holding the event every year, as had been past practice.

But a storm of protests from many quarters and the fact that many large show components such as the hydrogen + fuel cell joint exhibit threatened to go elsewhere, convinced the fair management to keep things as they were. A German fuel cell newsletter, "Wasserstoff + Brennstoffzelle," quoted Peter Rippen, a Hanover Fair manager, as saying he admired Arno Evers' past persistence, "even at times when fuel cell technology was sort of ridiculed and relegated to hopelessness."

Arno Evers, the founder, impresario, ringmaster, organizer and inventor of the joint exhibit, said it took huge amounts of hard work to get from humble beginnings ten years ago to what he boasts is the "biggest exhibit of this kind in the world" now: from all of 144 sq. m. of exhibit space and 2 assistants in 1995 to roughly ten times the floor space now, 17 young professionals for the exhibit's Internet display and presence alone, plus other staff.

Sign Cooperation Pact for Shanghai Fall Fair

An indication of the exhibit's global stature came in the formal signing of an agreement with representatives of China's Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST) under which Evers' Group Exhibit will stage a similar event as part of the Shanghai International Industry Fair Nov. 4-9 at the new International Expo Center in the Pudong section of Shanghai (H&FCL Fast Forward, April 04). Evers said he made 9 trips to China before the deal was nailed down. This fall's initial event will be rather more modest than Hannover: Evers expects 20-25 Chinese and international exhibitors taking up some 300 sq. m. (3,200 sq. ft.) of display space.

Close to two dozen Chinese officials and executives had traveled to Hannover for the event and to participate in a round of workshops and meetings during the fair's "Day of Chinese Cooperation.." Lei Qingxi, a director and researcher in the Science & Technology ministry, said during the signing ceremony that the Chinese government knows that the harmony between society and nature is very important and "China was just beginning to look at that relationship." China wants to utilize hydrogen technology as part of the 2008 Olympics and for the 2010 International Expo. That, he said, is the reason " why it is very important to start with green energy in China, and that's why the Chinese government wants to support environmentally friendly technologies which could help solve energy problems in China."

Chinese Company Sells Stacks, Materials in West

Coinciding with the fair, China's Xinhua news agency reported the country's ministry of science and technology has set aside more than Yuan 400 million (about $48.2 million) for five years for research into hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles, and the government plans to issue "supportive policies" to aid their development.

One Chinese company already selling small PEM fuel cells to the West, Fuyuan Century Fuel Cell ( www.fyfuelcell.com <http://www.fyfuelcell.com> ), Beijing, had a stand in Hannover. Fuyuan marketing executive Lang Zhong told H&FCL his company has sold stacks, usually less than 1 kW, and fuel cell materials in Italy, Australia, Japan and one to an American post graduate student at New York State University in Buffalo. The company started PEM development in 1996, and Lang said Fuyuan so far is enjoying a sizeable price advantage - about $2,800 for a 200 W stack.

The push into the North American market started last October, according to Lang., including an agreement with fuelcellstore.com as outlet. There are a number of companies, and also universities, that are building and selling fuel cells, but so far Fuyuan is the only one selling in the West. "Others are focusing more on big government jobs and don't look abroad as yet," he added. "But if they get enough money from the government, they might." China itself is not a profitable market so far, he added, "but it may be in 2-3 years."

As in past years, German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder paid a visit to the hydrogen and fuel cell exhibit. Among other stops in the exhibit, Schroeder, who has just turned 60, gamely climbed on a production forklift truck made by the German company Still, Hamburg. ( www.still.de/english/index.html <http://www.still.de/english/index.html> ).

The vehicle's battery system had been replaced by an 18 kW (three 6 kW modules) PEM fuel cell system made by Proton Motor ( www.proton-motor.de <http://www.proton-motor.de> ), Starnberg, fueled with gaseous hydrogen stored on board in two 39-liter, 350 bar (5000 psi) tanks provided by Linde Gas ( www.linde-gas.com <http://www.linde-gas.com> ), Wiesbaden, and augmented by supercapacitors instead of batteries. As a safety measure, the system is flushed with inert nitrogen every time it is shut down. One principal advantage: refueling the stapler now takes only 3-5 minutes, compared to 8 hours of recharging for the standard battery version. The first one will start operating alongside standard staplers this month at Munich airport.

Audi A2H2 Premiere

Audi's hybrid A2H2 was on display on the stand of the German engineering association VDI. René van Doorn, an executive in charge of fuel cell predevelopment, told H&FCL this was not the first fuel cell prototype developed by Volkswagen, Audi's parent company, but it's the first ever shown to the public. The fact that it was being shown at the VDI booth is part of a long-standing tradition: for many years, VW has shown its innovations in conjunction with the VDI display, van Doorn said.

VW and Audi believe that fuel cell vehicles will be ready for series production in about 15 years, a timetable determined not only by technology development but also by the general political and technological framework - codes and standards, availability of infrastructure, and law.

The A2H2 is powered by compressed gaseous hydrogen in three 350 bar (5000 psi) Dynetek tanks storing 1.8 kg H2, good for a range of 220 km (138 miles). The company doesn't believe liquid hydrogen is a viable fuel: "only gaseous hydrogen is viable as a regenerative energy provider," says van Doorn.

After evaluating a number of competitors, Audi picked Ballard's PEM fuel cell as power plant for now, in part at least because of close physical proximity: Audi is only about an hour's drive away from Ballard in Nabern. "We're talking to everybody," says van Doorn, emphasizing that it's a straightforward supplier relationship, "not a cooperation agreement."

The fun part of all this was that while Audi was talking freely about the project, staffers and executives at the Ballard Power Systems (www.ballard.com) booth had to stay embarrassingly mum because they had to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the carmaker. Still, Ballard found some solace, and offered some news, with the announcement of the European launch of its new Nexa-based telecomm backup system, first unveiled last fall in New York (H&FCL Nov. 03).

Fiat/Nuvera's FC Seicento Cruises Exhibit Hall

Making its first appearance at a major hydrogen event, U.S.-Italian fuel cell builder Nuvera ( www.nuvera.com <http://www.nuvera.com> ) rolled out Fiat's Seicento FC Phase 2 equipped with one of its 50 kW stacks.

Previously it was shown only last fall at a limited demonstration in Italy, coupled with some street tests in Milan, Nuvera vice president William Mitchell told H&FCL. The diminutive city car, was available for indoor test drives in an empty stretch of the exhibit area, and lots of visitors took turns behind the wheel, whizzing and wheeling across the hall's polished black tile floor with glee. Compressed hydrogen is stored in a 70 liter 350 bar (5000 psi) tank, range is 210 km (131 miles) and top speed is 130 kmh (81 mph).

Mitchell says Fiat and Nuvera are now working on a second generation based on Fiat's award-winning Panda, described as an urban SUV, through early next year. After that, the partners will discuss and decide on its potential, initially for fleet demonstrations perhaps.

Another fun vehicle, on static display only, was the hybrid fuel cell adaptation of a commercially available battery-powered Swiss three-wheeler designed by a team from the College for Technology and Informatics, Biel (www.hti-brennstoffzellen.ch <http://www.hti-brennstoffzellen.ch> ).

Power comes from a 6 kW PEM fuel cell plus lithium polymer batteries, and the metal hydride storage system holds 400 g of hydrogen, enough for a range of 200 km (125 miles). The stack came from Umicore, Hanau-Wolfgang, Germany, and other partners included Energieschweiz, Energieservice Biel, Fribourg University, the Paul Scherrer Institute, and Cree AG. An Umicore executive said depending on public reaction, the partners might seek to commercialize it.

Hydrogen generation is mated to wind power in a demonstration project on a wind-swept island 18 kilometers off the Norwegian coast that got its official launch a couple of days after the Hannover Fair closed. At the fair itself, Hydro ( www.hydro.com <http://www.hydro.com> ), the Norwegian aluminum and energy company (formerly known as Norsk Hydro) showed a small scale model of the 250-resident Utsira island, with two 600 kW Enercon churning out electricity and hydrogen as backup power for ten households. Hydro logistics director Hallgeir Øya told H&FCL the PEM fuel cell will be provided by a Danish company, IRD Fuel Cell A/S. Hydro Electrolysers is providing the electrolytic equipment. The 40 million kroner (about $6 million) project is scheduled to run for 2-3 years, Øya said.

Other News:

- Given continuing concerns about on-board hydrogen storage, of interest was an unusual lightweight high-pressure carbon composite with novel architecture, developed by AIR Fertigungs-Technologie GmbH, Hohen Luckow ( www.air-composite.com <http://www.air-composite.com> ). Visually, the black tank shown at the booth differed from conventional carbon fiber tanks in that it didn't have the spherical dome-shaped end pieces - so-called isotensoid caps - but straight-cut ends (See picture).

AIR says the design is capable of handling pressures from 300 to more than 1,000 bar (4350-14,500 psi). They can be manufactured in sizes from a few centimeters to several meters. A 700 bar tank has been burst-tested to 2,100 bar, AIR engineer Lars Pospischil told H&FCL.

Pospischil explained that in this system longitudinal and tangential stresses are separated, with the longitudinal pressures handled by thousands of carbon fibers inside the tank that securely hold the two flat end caps in place. Tangential pressures are handled as usual by the wound cylinder walls.

Pospischil told H&FCL because of this architecture, storage volume is nearly doubled compared to conventional designs of comparable mass, with energy densities of up to 2.06 kWh/kg tank mass possible (comparable figures for conventional tanks were not immediately available). A 41 liter AIR tank, weighing 28 kg empty, stores 1.7 kg of hydrogen, he added.

-- For micro fuel cell designers, 3P-Energy, Schwerin, Germany (www.3p-energy.de <http://www.3p-energy.de> ) showed a thin-film membrane for direct methanol fuel cells thinner by a factor of 10 than Nafion 117 - about 10µm - CEO Fabian Kraus told H&FCL, resulting in lower ohmic resistance with comparable ionic conductivity. Produced in a thin-film fabricating device, the resulting polymer thin films show generally a higher degree of cross-linking and are chemically and thermically very resistant, the company says. Most importantly, methanol crossover is claimed to be 20 times lower than with Nafion 117, according to Kraus, permitting more efficient water management to the point that the byproduct doesn't have to be recycled but is allowed to simply evaporate. The triple-layer film construction in this MEA does away with bipolar plates, and there is no laborious assembly of components.

- Intelligent Energy, London, ( www.intelligent-energy.com <http://www.intelligent-energy.com> ) showed a new 50 kW PEM stack for automotive use, basically an enlarged version of its previous 1.6 and 2.5 kW stack. Dennis Hayter, director for business development, told H&FCL they're developing this plus a 25 kW hybrid version , and several unidentified (naturally) carmakers are interested. Last year in Hannover, Intelligent Energy said it was working with an unidentified developing country in designing a fuel cell-based power system (H&FCL May 03).This time, they let the cat out of the bag: It's South Africa; Moore says the company has established an office there. No other details.

- Swiss fuel cell developer MES-DEA, Stabio, ( www.mes-dea.ch <http://www.mes-dea.ch> ) unveiled a new sleek fuel cell prototype scooter based on a production i.c.-engined scooter built by Italian motorcycle manufacturer Aprilia. with twice the output - 6 kW - than a previously shown version. The "Atlantic Zero" has a range of 150 km (93 miles) compared to the standard Atlantic 125's 125 miles, and a top speed of 85 kmh (53 mph), compared to 100 kmh (62 mph) for the gas burner.

- Most awe-inspiring sight of the entire energy exhibit: the giant rotor hub of a huge 4.5 MW wind turbine by Enercon, Aurich, northern Germany ( www.enercon.de <http://www.enercon.de> ), towering a couple of floors or so over the sea of exhibits in Hall 13, main venue for the fair's energy exhibits (see picture). The 440 -ton gondola and hub perch, if that's the word, 124 meters up on top of a concrete tower, and rotor diameter is 114 meters. Enercon has built and commissioned three of these giants, and a fourth is underway in Northern Germany. Contact: Arno Evers, Fair PR, https://www.hydrogenambassadors.com/ <https://www.hydrogenambassadors.com/> .

Copyright © 2004 Peter Hoffmann.

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