Nuvera Fuel Cells has achieved several milestones with its next-generation Andromeda II automotive fuel cell stack. The 125 kW (168 horsepower) stack, which is currently available for delivery to developers of customers developing fuel cell vehicles, exceeded product milestones for:
· Power density (1.6 kWe/liter at high pressure, 1.3 kWe/liter at low pressure of less than 1.6 Bar); · Cold-start capability (repeatable freeze start from -30 degrees C reaching 50% power in 30 seconds); · System efficiency (greater than 1,500 hours steady-state operation with a 10 µV/hr cell decay rate); · Durability (100,000 cycles during operation with no measurable decay), and · High-volume production cost (non-coated stainless steel bipolar plate construction).
Automotive Platform Leader Giovanni Bruni said the milestones address critical challenges to the commercialization of fuel cell vehicles. "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."