Fuel Cell System for Transportation — 2005 Cost Estimate

An independent review team recently assessed progress towards DOE's 2005 technical target—$125/kW—for the cost of producing proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells for transportation.

Over the last several years, DOE's Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program has contracted with TIAX LLC to determine a cost estimate relative to this target. The independent team found the methodology used by TIAX to estimate the cost of producing PEM fuel cells to be reasonable and, using 2005 cell stack technology and assuming production of 500,000 units per year, to have calculated a credible cost of $108/kW. The DOE target for PEM fuel cells exceeds the TIAX estimate, and thus adequate progress has been made.

For more information, refer to the Independent Review Panel Report on the Fuel Cell System for Transportation — 2005 Cost Estimate (PDF 716 KB). Download Adobe Reader.

Review Team

Douglas Wheeler

Douglas Wheeler formed DJW Technology, LLC, which provides consulting services to industry, national laboratories, and government agencies. He also served as manager of technology and government contracts at UTC Fuel Cells (now UTC Power) for 18 years. At UTC Fuel Cells, he managed the advanced technology team during the company's transition from phosphoric acid fuel cells to PEM fuel cells. During this time, the company's critical atmospheric pressure technology for PEM fuel cells was developed. The advanced technology team developed and demonstrated the technology concepts for its automotive PEM fuel cell systems.

David Watkins

During his 19 years at Ballard Power Systems, David Watkins pioneered the PEM fuel cell technologies behind the company's emergence as a global industry leader, including an order of magnitude increase in power density, practical operation on air rather than pure oxygen, operation on widely available hydrocarbon fuels rather than pure hydrogen, and the first methanol-to-electricity and natural gas-to-electricity integrated fuel power plants using PEM technology. He started systems engineering at Ballard in 1991 and retired in 2002 as director of advanced systems, where he was responsible for portable, stationary, and transportation power plants.

Clarence Chow

Clarence Chow has extensive experience in fuel cell product development, particularly for automotive applications. During his 12 years at Ballard Power Systems, he served as stack engineering manager, director of transportation programs, and director of advanced development. Chow managed a number of key projects that helped put Ballard at the forefront of fuel cell product development for automobiles. He led the stack development that advanced the power densities to the needs of the automotive fuel cell systems and improved performance compatibility, reduced costs, and transformed the design for high volume production processes.

Paul Farris

Consultant Paul Farris has over 30 years experience in the fuel cell industry at UT Fuel Cells, where he was manager of business development. He was a key member of the PC 25 commercialization team and conducted cost and manufacturing analyses for the phosphoric acid fuel cell. He led the company's effort to commercialize an on-site hydrogen generation unit. He was instrumental in the company's transition to PEM fuel cells for transportation applications. Farris was an instructor for the fuel cell short course, "The Integrated System Approach to Fuel Cell Power Plant System Design," at the 2005 Fuel Cell Seminar.