Opening Press Conference

Group Exhibit on Hydrogen + Fuel Cells
Sunday, April 14, 02:00 p.m.
at the Forum in the center of the
Group Exhibit, Hall 13, Booth F68

At this Press Conference representatives from relevant exhibitor groups
presented their H2/FC developments on the way to commercialization.

Arno A. Evers, Dr. Hiroyuki Tokushige, Denise Ibens, André Martin, Ulrich-Michael Dismer, Prof. Dr. Zong Qiang MAO, Ulrich Walter (from left to right)
Arno A. Evers, the organizer of the Group Exhibit "Hydrogen & Fuel Cells" at the HANNOVER FAIR 2002, welcomes his guests to the press conference. They talk about products announced at this Exhibition and the importance of hydrogen and fuel cells at the present time, and in the future. For example, Mr. André Martin, the Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Program Management at Ballard Power Systems (Germany), spoke about the 1,2 kW power module and the first series-production PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell power module. Now that we can see the positive effects of this technology and how much further we have come in the past years, it is time for hydrogen & fuel cells to go on to a global market.
This year, there are 96 exhibitors from 11 different countries, presenting the latest advances in commercialization of these new technologies.

Participants:

Prof. Dr. Zong Qiang MAO
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Chief Scientist, Hydrogen Energy Project of National Key Fundamentals R&D Program
Prof. INET, Tsinghua University
Chairman, China Association for Hydrogen Energy (CAHE)
Director, International Association for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE)

Prof. Dr. Mao stated that China has a large demand for Hydrogen powered busses and cars. Chinese government is very open for this new technology and supports Fuel Cell development.

André Martin
Vice-President Sales
Marketing & Program Management
Ballard Power Systems (Germany)

André Martin predicts that the fuel cell technique will make its way into the mass market much faster than most experts think. For the transportation sector, especially, Hydrogen infrastructure is important.

Denise Ibens
Sales Development Manager Europe
Chemical Analysis Solution Unit
Agilent Technologies GmbH
European Field Support Center
Waldbronn, Germany

Mrs. Ibens' company developed a system for measuring Hydrogen purity, because otherwise contaminants in the fuel supply will poison the Fuel Cell catalysts reducing its performance.

Dr. Hiroyuki Tokushige
Deputy General Manager
The Japan Steel Works, Ltd
Tokyo, Japan / Duesseldorf, Germany

Dr. Tokushige sees the steel industry closely linked to Hydrogen applications and believes that their metal hydrides are the best solution for Hydrogen storage.

Ulrich-Michael Dismer
Project Manager CHP (Combined Heating Power Station)
SAIA-Burgess Electronic GmbH & Co (Germany) KG
Dreieich, Germany

Mr. Dismer's company produces and sells monitoring and controlling systems for Fuel Cell heaters and combined heating and power stations (CHP). He is sure that if the customers needs are fulfilled, the market for domestic fuel cells will be very big.

Arno A. Evers
Founder & owner of Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR

Arno A. Evers explained how special customer services will make the breakthrough for the fuel cell.

Presenter:
Ulrich Walter
Arno A. Evers, FAIR-PR

Peter Hoffmann, editor of the Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter, making notes for his next publication.

Interested journalists have participated in the opening press conference.