Bosch partners with PowerCell to reduce the cost of fuel cells

On Monday, automotive parts supplier Bosch announced its partnership with a company called PowerCell for the manufacture of fuel cells for commercial vehicles and tourism.

At present, the market for hydrogen fuel cells is not huge, but a number of automotive industry leaders believe that hydrogen, which can be turned into electrical energy through fireplaces fuel cells, will play an important role in the transport of tomorrow if we want carbon emissions in the face of climate change.

PowerCell, a Swedish company formed from the merger of Volvo in 2008, has been building hydrogen fuel cells for a decade. Bosch has also worked to supply fuel cell battery manufacturers. Together, the two companies will jointly develop a polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack for mass production by 2022. (Currently, PowerCell manually produces its fuel cells and hopes to move to semi-production. -automatic thanks to its partnership with Bosch.)

"Joint development work will take the form of regular expert consultations," Bosch spokesman Tim Wieland told Ars. He added that the two companies do not plan a joint venture or joint plant. When development is completed in 2022, Bosch will market the product to manufacturers of motor vehicles and road vehicles, and Powercell will market it in "other industries," according to Wieland.

"In the field of fuel cells, Bosch already has a strong hand and the alliance with PowerCell makes it even stronger," said Stefan Hartung, a member of Bosch's board of directors. "The commercialization of technology is one of our strengths."

Robert Bosch GmbH is a huge company with more than 450 subsidiaries and local companies, offering car manufacturers a wide range of products and services, from components to software. (A branch of the company even wrote some of the code that helped Volkswagen and Audi diesel vehicles miss their emissions tests.)

This means that the company has been involved in a little bit of everything, including fuel cells for vehicles. Bosch's most notable contribution to fuel cell deployment may lie in its partnership with the Nikola Motor Company, a hydrogen truck start-up. Bosch has a team of engineers at headquarters in Nikola, Arizona, who strives to get the company's trucks through production.

Although proponents of alternative fuels diverge on the future of hydrogen fuel cells for battery-powered electric vehicles, Bosch clearly believes that hydrogen fuel cell technology has a real future in the future. the trucking industry. "In the long run, the mobile fuel cell sector is potentially generating billions of euros for Bosch," a press release said. The company estimates "that 20% of all electric vehicles in the world will be powered by fuel cells by 2030".

It remains to be seen whether a Bosch and PowerCell fuel cell would actually be used in the United States as long as Nikola remains the driving force behind the dream of hydrogen fuel cell trucking. In early April, PowerCell (who was also working with Nikola on the design of a fuel cell for heavy goods vehicles) announced that he would separate from Nikola because "PowerCell could not accept Nikola's conditions for cooperation keep on going".

Nikola says …

Trevor Milton, Nikola's CEO, asked Nikola Arsan to ask Nikola who was responsible for designing the fuel cell stacks on his truck. We are very proud of our strong relationship with Bosch. As previously announced, we do not work with PowerCell. a different direction with our fuel cell, which we will announce at the appropriate time. "

Whether the fruits of a Bosch-PowerCell alliance can be made in the United States or not can still be the subject of debate. But Bosch clearly sees a market in Europe for its technology. "The EU truck fleet requires a reduction in CO₂ emissions by 15% on average by 2025 and by 30% by 2030, "Bosch wrote in a press release. According to Bosch, this goal can only be achieved by electrifying more and more the powertrain. The fuel cell can play a decisive role here. "

Bosch claims that two-thirds of the cost of a fuel cell system is in the fuel cell stack. It is therefore essential to achieve economies of scale through the development of manufacturing to reduce the cost of hydrogen fuel cell trucks and other vehicles. And if the fuel cell can be mass-produced, it remains only to determine how to make renewable hydrogen cheap and easily accessible on any road.