PROMINENT IN THE THOUGHTS OF LEGISLATORS across the world at the moment, fuel cells have seen a sustained burst of development over the last few years. Originally used in the Apollo space programme to provide power on-board the astronauts’ modules (but developed a hundred years previously to that) they are now being examined as options for supplying power to anything from cell phones and laptop computers to cars and ships.

Fuel cells can best be described as devices used for converting a fuel to electricity and heat. Provided the fuel is continually supplied, the fuel cell can produce a continuous output, an advantage over batteries which run out relatively rapidly. If they are compared to combustion engines, on the other hand, they typically show higher efficiency, providing more usable power per litre of fuel, another possible selling point. And, they can also ride on the current wave of environmental concerns: if hydrogen can be supplied cleanly as the fuel, the only emission is water.

So, where is the technology at the moment? Most players in the market are clear about the fact that fuel cells are almost all pre-commercial. Costs are still too high to allow competition with most incumbent technologies on a level playing field. However, there are niche markets already where fuel cells may be able to show a competitive advantage. Military users appreciate the device’s low heat signature. Business users might be interested in the potential for high reliability and use fuel cells for back-up power, for example, at a data centre.

As with any new technology, it may be possible for fuel cells simply to replace the incumbent devices: batteries, power leads and internal combustion engines. For many people, computers are seen simply as a replacement for typewriters where mistakes are more easily corrected. But, what must be more exciting is when a new product can be made. Computers enabled the creation of the internet: what can fuel cells do? Or what can do with fuel cells that we couldn’t do at all before?

Two interesting examples are on the horizon. The first is a prototype car from General Motors, the Hy-Wire. Fuel cell vehicles attract attention because they should be cleaner, producing lower emissions of carbon monoxide and soot but also because they can be more efficient, reducing the amount of fuel burnt, a benefit to the user and also the environment (quite apart from reducing an individual country’s consumption of crude oil).

However, GM has looked at the fuel cell and asked deeper questions. As a result, it has come up with a new type of vehicle. It is “drive-by-wire” with no mechanical connections or steering wheel, being controlled much more like a video game. It has a central fuel cell and a motor on each wheel, providing four wheel drive and four wheel steering. And, it has all of the fuel cell system and the fuel in the skateboard-like chassis of the car so that you can imagine simply placing a different shell on top to produce a new model.

Major design changes like this are not simple to introduce and this one is not expected to arrive until the end of the decade but the changes are so radical, it shows how powerful the introduction of a fuel cell can be.

The second area is more of a concept but may be closer to reality. Intel has recently been promoting the concept of truly wireless computing. We can already experience wireless internet connection and electronic communications but the power supply is more limited. On a nice day, working in the park, as Intel shows in its adverts, wireless power might last a few hours. Using a fuel cell instead of a battery may allow much longer run times. Many computer manufacturers like NEC and Toshiba have already built such prototypes and expect to launch products from 2005.

But, to move fuel cells forward, into the real world, will still take some development and it is here that many opportunities lie. The most-researched type of fuel cell, the proton exchange membrane fuel cell, is conceptually simple to understand but challenging to manufacture. Plenty of work is being carried out on the central components in terms of improving performance and cutting cost but there should be lessons to be learned from other mass-manufacturing industries. Can plastic be used to cut down weight? Which manufacturing process can meet the design specifications at lowest cost, and in high volumes?

More interesting though, perhaps, is the opportunity in peripheral components. It is often pointed out that the people who got richest during the 1849 gold rush were the guys selling pick axes and shovels. A large, and growing, number of companies from other industries have seen an opportunity and started to examine this industry. At Fuel Cell Today, we are aware of many more than a thousand worldwide who are working on fuel cells in some capacity. Of these, the minority are what might be described as “fuel cell companies”. More are involved in, for instance, the automotive industry as second or third tier suppliers and have seen fuel cells arrive on the radar screen.

At such a company, fuel cells can be seen as a threat or an opportunity. Certainly, the prospect of losing market share or even an entire market is unattractive but for many people, fuel cells provide a method of taking their current knowledge and skills and applying them to what could be a very dynamic market in coming years. Anyone already manufacturing compressors, for instance, can look at fuel cells and try to reconfigure their products to fit the requirements of this new technology.

Service industries too could benefit. When sales start in serious volumes, maintaining and servicing units could provide as much money as building and selling them in the first place. Software must be written to control the cells, just as for engines and electrical devices. The technology may be coming but the business opportunities could already be here.