Hyundai Motor has partnered with Advent Technologies, a US-based company that develops, manufactures, and assembles complete fuel cell systems, to develop advanced fuel cell technology for high-temperature applications. The partnership comes after a successful fuel cell technology assessment that evaluated Advent’s proprietary Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) technology for supplying Hyundai’s high-temperature fuel cell needs.
The joint development agreement will allow the two companies to work together to further develop the HMC-Advent Ion Pair membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and establish commercial criteria for MEA supply. This could lead to Advent’s advanced fuel cell technology being used for Hyundai’s heavy-duty and/or stationary applications, if the development and assessment planned under the joint agreement are successful.
MEAs (Membrane-Electrode Assemblies) are the heart of the fuel cell. Due to the high-temperature operation, Advent`s MEAs can work with impure hydrogen that can be reformed onboard from methanol, natural gas, and other renewable fuels (liquid sun, liquid wind).
The development partners plan to introduce advanced cooling technologies for mobility high-temperature proton exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cell stacks. The joint development aims to “revolutionize the global MEA market by providing significant improvement in lifetime and an increase in power density versus current HT-PEM MEAs.”
Seung Hyun Hong, Vice President and Head of the Material Research & Engineering Center at Hyundai Motor Company, stated that the partnership will enable Hyundai to develop best-in-class high-temperature fuel cells, unlocking a key step for more widespread adoption of fuel cell technology in high-temperature applications.
Source: Hyundai
