Hydrogen fuel cells are increasingly seen as a potential propulsion technology of the future for road transport. Additionally, fuel cell Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) - possibly coupled with on-board fuel reformers - are also seen as a promising technology for both light and heavy duty vehicles. However, despite the potential of these technologies to reduce the environmental impact of road transport and to improve energy efficiency, both technical and economic barriers need to be overcome for these technologies to be successfully introduced in mass markets. The project HyTRAN (Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies for Road Transport, EC contract number 502577, funded under the 6th Framework Program) aims at advancing the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology towards wide commercialisation in the road transport sector. This is done by focusing on R and D activities which address current key technology bottlenecks. In the project, which has duration of five years, 19 partners cooperate to developing key components, subsystem and complete fuel cell systems. The project aims to develop two innovative integrated fuel cell systems - an 80 kW Direct Hydrogen PEM Fuel Cell system for traction of passenger cars, and a 5 kW Diesel Reformat PEM APU for truck on-board power supply (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E212343.
Abstract