UK firm Intelligent Energy says fuel cells are the answer to cleaner, more efficient motoring
A few days before Alistair Darling delivered the most unpopular business budget in a generation, Gordon Brown went to Loughborough to visit a company called Intelligent Energy. He took with him the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, who described the UK cleantech firm as a "prime example" of the type of start-up the government would like to see more of. Why? Clean energy is a political double-whammy. The government wants to keep to its commitment to cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. It would be seen as an added bonus if UK companies could help us to reach that target—the government balance sheet still needs bolstering.
Brown and Mandelson also see Intelligent Energy, which makes hydrogen fuel cells, as a perfect case study for illustrating the success of the government's Technology Strategy Board, a body set up to "accelerate technological innovation" by investing in the commercialisation of ideas. The Chancellor's Budget included an extra £50m for the Technology Strategy Board, which already has £1bn to invest in promising start-ups.
The Strategy Board has a keen interest in low-carbon vehicles, which is why Intelligent Energy was last year given funding to convert a fleet of London taxis into zero-emission electric hybrids in time for the Olympics in 2012. The cars will be topped up "in a matter of minutes" at central hydrogen fuel stations and will be able to do speeds of up to 75mph. The only emission from the tail-pipe will be small traces of water. Intelligent Energy chief executive Henri Winand says the fleet of 50-100 taxis will provide a useful launch pad in proving that fuel cell technology is ready for use "right now."
"People will have you think it's something for tomorrow," says Winand, an Anglo-Belgian. "But it's working today." His firm's fuel cells are the culmination of a 170-year struggle to turn what is often billed as one of the most efficient energy conversion devices into the most cost effective. Vast progress has been made since the sixties, when costly fuel cell engines constructed out of gold and graphite propelled a series of NASA rockets into space.
But the engines were never meant for the mass market. What Intelligent Energy has developed, says Winand, is a unique, scalable fuel cell design that is "dirt-cheap" to make and efficient to run. What's more, because it is so simple to reproduce, it can be adapted for use in other markets, from consumer electronics to aerospace. "Because we design once and deploy many times, what I have learned in one market I can pass on to other market segments," says Winand.
Fuel cells are by no means the clear winner in the race to replace the combustion engine. But Intelligent Energy has already enjoyed some notable successes. The company supplies the fuel cell for Suzuki's much-anticipated Crosscage motorbike. It also has a relationship with Peugeot, which uses the company's fuel cell in its H2Origin van. Currently winning the PR race for clean energy is the Tesla, made by PayPal founder Elon Musk. The Tesla, which is among the first electric vehicles to turn heads for aesthetic as well as environmental reasons, is battery powered.
Because Winand won't say how many other car or bike makers Intelligent Energy is working with, it's difficult to gauge the true level of support for fuel cells compared to other technologies. It's also not exactly clear which system the government prefers. In the same week that Brown and Lord Mandelson visited Intelligent Energy, Mandelson was photographed waving from an electric Mini to publicise a £250m package aimed at stimulating the market for electric vehicles.
Ministers have set aside £20m for a network of battery charging points around the country. But the plan has its critics, not least in the Conservative party, who believe that £20m, plus the proposed £2,000-£5,000 new car subsidy, won't be nearly enough. "It's like giving people a grant to buy an internal combustion engine, without bothering to set up any petrol stations," said shadow chancellor George Osborne.
There is also the problem of range. As pretty as the Tesla looks (it is loosely modelled on the Lotus Elise) it has to lump around thousands of expensive lithium ion battery cells in order to produce a range of 241 miles, but the car still requires over a day to recharge. Winand believes hybrid vehicles, powered by a combination of hydrogen and conventional batteries, could be the answer. "It's far more attractive as a proposition," says Winand. "It gives you the best of both worlds. Fuel cells give you the range. A battery will give you the peak energy that you need to accelerate. With a battery alone you don't have the range and you don't have quick refuelling." Hydrogen refuelling, says Winand, can be completed in a matter of minutes.
Suzuki opted for a hybrid model with the Crosscage. So did Peugeot in developing its H2Origin delivery van. But vehicles aren't the only market that hybrids are suitable for. In February last year, Intelligent Energy teamed up with Boeing for the inaugural flight of the world's first manned flight of a fuel cell powered aircraft. The two-seater propeller plane, powered by a combination of hydrogen fuel cell and lithium-ion batteries, flew at 62 mph around 3,000 feet above Madrid.
Fuel cells are twice as efficient as conventional engines, largely because they are much more simple. A conventional engine creates and converts heat into mechanical energy, which it then turns into electricity. A fuel cell uses a chemical reaction to turn your chosen fuel, say hydrogen, straight into electricity, water and heat. How much power you get depends on how many fuel cells are stacked together. But it's important not to get too carried away by the technology. As Winand says: "Nobody buys an internal combustion engine, they buy a car."
Winand says the Suzuki Crosscage is attracting lots of interest, but it's up to Suzuki when production will begin. Intelligent Energy makes fuel cell engines at one of its two factories, in Loughborough and California, but consumer roll-outs are handled at the premises of the manufacturing partner. "We are an OE without the M. We do the technology, we allow the customer to have [the fuel cell engine] in low volume, but as it scales up it goes through their own operations." Is the Crosscage still on schedule? "We are on target. Because I am a driven guy we always want more by yesterday. When you think everything's OK that's the moment to worry."
He says that matching conventional product life cycles provides a good measure of progress (motorbikes take up to four years from design to market), but new technology requires caution-smaller steps. "The game is about having affordable mistakes. An unaffordable mistake usually leads to premature death." What does he mean by affordable? "It means you have good enough processes. We will make mistakes. That's a fact of life. What's not a fact of life is making a mistake that impacts on the customer. You need small steps but very quick and often."
Posted 11 May 2009 : Director.co.uk
