A fuel cell is a device that controls a combustion process by electrochemical means. As the fuel used is not a conventional one like petrol or diesel, it possible to have no CO2 emissions if hydrogen is used as fuel. Fuel cells have long been announced to be on the brink of commercialisation, but so far, market penetration has been negligible They are commercially unsuccessful in vehicles beyond a few thousand purchased for material handling vehicles, notably forklifts, in the USA sometimes without financial assistance. A few thousand had been sold as cars by the end of 2017, mostly to institutions on a non-commercial basis. Fuel cells are commercially successful in stationary applications.

 

Fuel cell buses and cars are still outsold by a factor of about one hundred by pure electric buses and cars. Rather than simply follow the views of companies such as Tesla that are 100% pure electric, it is salutary to note what the formerly leading enthusiasts for on-road fuel cells have said recently.

Fuel cells in off road vehicles, marine and aircraft applications have performed quite well but are not yet adopted in volume. Overall, IDTechEx fears that those OEMs making on-road vehicles will be impeded in the now headlong race into pure electric powertrains if a significant amount of their R&D funds are devoted to FC.

 

This report concerns fuel cells (FC) for powering the travel of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) whether by land, water or air. It is intended for those seeking to invest, support, develop, make, sell or use them and their materials and associated services. It will also assist those participating in the value chain of alternatives such as batteries and supercapacitors to understand the considerable opportunities for both collaborative use of their components with fuel cells and scope for common technologies. The window of opportunity for fuel cells in mainstream vehicles is now closing. Any more slipped timescales and some big fuel cell write-offs will be looming in the opinion of IDTechEx.

 

 

~Source: IDTechEx

 

In this 530-page report, IDTechEx details the main market opportunities in the electric vehicle space, by analysing 9 key EV segments like cars, buses, trucks, drones, ships, and trains. The technological efforts of all major European, American, and Asian players, as well as fuel cell manufacturers and newcomers, are presented in detail, together with our signature 10-year market forecasts covering FCEV demand in terms of units, megawatt (MW), million USD, and kilograms of platinum catalyst needed.

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