Editor’s Note: The following article was contributed by Dr. Peter Podesser, CEO, SFC Smart Fuel Cell (SFC), based in Germany. SFC manufactures fully-commercialized direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) for mobile and off-grid power applications serving the leisure, industrial and defense markets and has sold more than 9,000 fuel cells for a wide range of applications. That is truly an astounding number for our industry. A recent presentation on commercialization from SFC can be found on our “Resources” page.
Numerous motor home manufacturers in Europe are now integrating SFC’s EFOY fuel cell system into their RVs to provide auxiliary power for the electronics onboard. These include Rapido SAS, Hymer, Concorde, Dethleffs, Niesmann & Bischoff, Elnagh and La Strada. International leisure accessory distributors such as Trigano Services, Webasto, Movera, Freiko, Frankana and Fritz Berger are also carrying the EFOY product line.
To incorporate fuel cells as standard equipment on motor homes underscores the growing acceptance that DMFCs are experiencing among European “caravanners.”
Explaining the recent decision to include fuel cells in its RVs, Pierre-Luis Guérineau, director of marketing and sales for Rapido, said, “The EFOY fuel cell is the easiest and most environmentally friendly way to reliably ensure full batteries anytime and anywhere.”
One of SFC’s goals is to export this trend across the Atlantic for U.S. RVers who traditionally depend on generators and solar-power units to ensure enough electricity to operate the wide range of appliances in their vehicles. Both of these systems have limitations: solar panels mounted on the RV’s roof require a sufficient supply of sunlight to provide reliable back-up power. Generators emit exhaust fumes and noise, and are banned in many environmentally protected areas, such as national parks.
EFOY fuel cells are specially designed to meet the needs of RVers and others who want off-grid power in hybrid combination with battery and solar-powered systems. In addition to being more dependable than stand-alone battery or solar systems, hybrid systems help eliminate constant upkeep and maintenance costs, in part because a fuel cell can last several days. Fuel cells provide a clean, reliable and virtually silent back-up energy alternative to these traditional off-grid power sources. Connected directly to the RV’s on-board batteries, the EFOY fuel cell system constantly monitors the batteries and automatically produces power to recharge them when their charge drops below a predefined value.
Once the battery is fully charged, the fuel cell returns to standby mode. All this happens without requiring any user intervention, independent of the season, the weather or the time of day, and in a very environmentally friendly way.
The EFOY fuel cell is available in four models with charging capacities between 600 and 1600 Wh per day. This is enough to power a medium-sized RV, and to operate an air conditioner for a few hours per day. A simple example illustrates how much power is actually needed by an electrical device: watching television for three hours consumes 210 watt hours (70 W x 3 h = 210 Wh).
|Back|
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
July 19, 2008 @ 3:15 pm
fc-skeptic says...
SFC (like every fuel cell company so far) loses money on every system it sells. The more systems SFC sells the more money SFC loses. Even at a retail price of €3,108 for a 65W system.
http://www.udomi.de/downloads/udomi-pricelist.pdf
SFC still won’t break even in 2008 “due to considerable increases in the cost of raw materials”.
http://www.ad-hoc-news.de/drucken.html?art_id=15909344
When SFC wrote its business plan and specified its current products, platinum, on which those products are totally dependent, cost < 1/3 of what it does now.
http://www.kitco.com/LFgif/pt1825nyb.gif
Since then the rising price of Pt must have blown SFC’s bill of materials and margin models straight to hell.
Platinum prices are unlikely to go back down to anywhere near $700/oz. any time soon. DMFCs will never be sold profitably unless and until someone comes up with a new catalyst that works better than Pt and is much cheaper than Pt.
July 26, 2008 @ 1:16 am
Greg says...
Greg…
…
August 1, 2008 @ 10:41 am
Sandra says...
fc-skeptic: “DMFCs will never be sold profitably unless and until someone comes up with a new catalyst that works better than Pt and is much cheaper than Pt.”
See an article in today’s news - Gore-Tex can replace platinum in cheaper fuel cells, study shows http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080801/BUSINESS/808010326/1003
September 18, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
Philip A. Block says...
Have patience good people. It took about 20 years until an affordable automobile was produced (Ford 1908). It took about that amount of time until the first gas station was built. Many auto companies went broke during that same period of time and has continued to the present. Look how many computer companies have gone out of business the past 30 years. Many people worldwide, like Robert Dopp, are working on finding a solution to the H2 challenge. Years ago, when I mentioned to my fellow engineers, or my students in the class room that Fuel Cells would one day power the world, I was told it would never happen. The H2 problem would never be solved,oil companies would never allow it, the Detroit piston heads would fight it, and the power companies wouldn’t want Fuel Cells because it would take away their power to control electric power (that is one of the many reasons for the resurgence of nuclear power–they are afraid of Fuel Cells). Negative thinking does not promote progress. Positive thinking does.
September 25, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
Richard P. Horwitz says...
Please take time to read the following story in today’s New York Times: 9/25/08
“Pumping Hydrogen” in the business section (on line) It explains the details of getting the hydrogen era under way.
September 25, 2008 @ 8:59 pm
Philip A. Block says...
I read the article and it hit the piston on the head. During WWII the oil companies did a tremendous job of supplying oil and new pipelines for the war effort, allowing us to supply our allies and circumvent the use of tankers that were being torpedoed in the Gulf and along the Atlantic coast. The industry and people of this country accomplished things during the war that amazed the world. The atomic bomb was developed at a huge cost, when many of the people working on it weren’t sure it would work. It took some twenty years from the first car till Ford produced one that the average person could afford. It took about the same time till the first gas station was built. Billions have been spent on the space program. Some 90 billion-yes 90 billion has been spent on a nuclear waste disposal area, Yucca Mountain in Nevada, and more on other nuclear waste storage facilities around the country. Proposals are being pushed to resurrect the nuclear power program at a cost of billions, and the hidden costs of more billions for the transmission lines, substations, and associated thousands of acres of land. An obsolete 20th century technology. As quoted from the Times article, 200 billion, to get an infrastructure going seems a small price to pay in comparison. This country has amazed the world with our accomplishments for over 200 years to the point that much of the world hates us for it. Now is the time to realize that we are in a war again for our survival. Government, industry, business, and the people of this country need to pull together and get the job done today, not tomorrow.
October 25, 2008 @ 7:19 pm
Richard Horwitz says...
Have you noticed, none of the candidates mentions FC’s when they talk about new energy sources. There was a copper catalyst for Franklin Fuel Cells, but I believe they were bought by an oil company, and probably will never be heard from again.
November 25, 2008 @ 1:15 am
maryam says...
hello dear i need some information about the efoy system if you send it many thanks
December 2, 2008 @ 3:37 am
better than viagra says...
Hello, good site