MILAN, Italy/CAMBRIDGE, Mass – Nuvera Fuel Cells, a leading designer, developer and manufacturer of fuel cell power systems, has announced that Andromeda II, its next-generation automotive fuel cell stack, has achieved several major milestones during recent qualification tests conducted at the company’s facility in Milan , Italy. The new stack, which is capable of generating 125 kW of power (168 horsepower) and is currently available for delivery to qualified customers developing fuel cell vehicles, exceeded key product milestones for power density, cold-start capability, system efficiency, durability, and high-volume production cost.
The announcement follows the signing of the US Energy Policy Act of 2005 by President Bush during his visit to Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque , New Mexico . According to the Committee on Energy and Congress, the Energy Act will authorise some $2.15 billion over the next 5 years toward the advancement of hydrogen-power cars and an infrastructure to provide for the safe delivery of hydrogen fuels.
“We believe Andromeda II has now risen to the forefront of the industry by combining many of the customer requirements for operability, reliability, and cost today,” said William Mitchell, Nuvera’s vice president of marketing. “With this new technology and our track record of continuous innovation, Nuvera is uniquely positioned to support automotive OEMs to accelerate the development – and successful demonstration – of fuel cell vehicles.”
Specifically, Andromeda II demonstrated the following product milestones:
• 1.6 kWe/litre power density at high pressure, 1.3 kWe/litre at low pressure
• Low pressure (< 1.6 Bar) operation
• No external humidification for fuel or air
• Repeatable freeze start from -30 º C reaching 50 per cent power in 30 seconds
• Greater than 1,500 hours steady-state operation with a 10 microvolts/hour/cell decay rate
• 100,000 cycles during operation with no measurable decay
• Non-coated stainless steel bipolar plate construction for low cost
According to Giovanni Bruni, Nuvera’s automotive platform leader, the advancements are significant because they address critical challenges to the commercialisation of fuel cell vehicles. “Andromeda II was engineered with the entire power system in mind. By rethinking the stack engineering, we were able to significantly reduce system humidity and pressure, which enables faster cold-start capabilities and lowers parasitic power demand, thus increasing reliability and overall system efficiency.”
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