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Read the articleAUTHORS
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Philippe STEVENS: Fuel cell project manager at Électricité de France (EDF)
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Frédéric NOVEL-CATTIN: Engineer - Research Department – Renault
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Abdel HAMMOU: Professor LEPMI/INP Grenoble
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Claude LAMY: Professor - Director, Laboratoire Électrocatalyse UMR CNRS n 6503, Poitiers
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Michel CASSIR: Senior Lecturer - Team Leader, Fuel Cells and Catalysis in Molten Salt Environments – Electrochemistry and Analytical Chemistry Laboratory - École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris (ENSCP)
INTRODUCTION
The environmental benefits of fuel cells (high electrical and energy efficiency, very low emissions of harmful gases, low noise levels, localized production, etc.) are becoming important assets for our society. However, they are not enough if investment costs are too high; it is on this criterion that the greatest efforts still need to be made if this technology is to be used.
Since their invention in 1839, fuel cells have undergone cyclical development, the previous cycle dating back to the 1970s. The prospects for commercial development have never been better, thanks to the efforts of several major industrial groups and automakers. The winning technologies will probably be those using a solid electrolyte: PEMFCs and SOFCs. These two technologies have now reached prototype level, and the start of commercialization is possible before 2005. They are both very compact, offer good prospects for cost reduction, and have sufficiently long lifetimes (40,000 hours).
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