Fuel cell cars remain expensive, partly because the technology behind them is still relatively costly. Driving down those costs while enhancing performance are among the main goals of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), which is helping to stimulate market growth and get greener vehicles onto Europe’s roads.
The FCH JU has paired top expertise from academia and industry to drive its goals forward. The public-private partnership, supporting research, technological development and demonstration (RTD) activities in fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies in Europe, has funded projects such as VOLUMETRIQ, PEGASUS, CRESCENDO and GAIA to design and develop solutions to make proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells a lot more affordable.
Cost-efficient
One way to make fuel cells more affordable will be to reduce the use of expensive materials (e.g. platinum for the catalysts). Several projects have been investigating how to reduce or completely displace such material while ensuring that the cells’ key performance indicators (power density and durability) continue to improve.
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