Day one – Hannover 2008

Kerry-Ann
Well here we are again. Hall 13, Hannover Messe. I have not been to the Fair for two years now and like not seeing your god daughter for six months and then visiting for a weekend your first thoughts are filled with how much they have grown, and that you have missed them. The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Group Exhibit now tops 150 companies and with meeting rooms, news desk and networking area (otherwise known as the place to have lunch), it takes up a very sizeable chunk of the Energy Hall. I must confess that I missed the grand opening on this Day 1 due to getting lost. The Messegelande is a not so small village all of its own and feeling a bit cocky, I thought after all these years of coming to the Fair I didn’t need a map. I was wrong! So I go to the stand 10 minutes after doors open and to be honest the hall looked a bit quiet. Interesting as Day 1 is traditionally a bit over the top in terms of visitor numbers. Now by lunch time the change from two years ago is markedly different. Whilst the footfall has very definitely been lower than what I remember the quality of the visitor is much higher. Quality and not quantity always a good saying to work by! From our stand we can see companies like Ceramic Fuel Cells, Helbio, Nedstack, Electro Power Systems and Cell Impact so it has been interesting to watch these guys to judge how busy they also have been. Ceramic, with its spate of recent high profile announcements, is obviously high on the hit list of the many of the fuel cell visitors and showing the live data feed of a unit currently operating in Melbourne has created a draw for all those curious as well. Helbio (Greece) is a small company working on hydrogen reformers. They themselves are part of the larger Morphic Group of companies which now owns as well Helbio, Cell Impact and Exergy. Helio produces the fuel flexible reformer and buys fuel cell stacks from Exergy which they integrate into a near market ready product. At present the companies marketing material indicates units for off-grid applications (interesting tie with the trends indentified in this years Small Stationary survey) and the possibility also of a marine unit. A company to watch.

Jon
The early-morning flight to Hannover from Stansted was filled with some familiar faces from the fuel cell world, some of whom we will be catching up with in more detail as the week progresses. Within a few minutes of arriving at Hall 13, I ran into Bac2, the UK bipolar plate manufacturer. Bac2 are going through a very exciting time at present, having shipped samples of their electro-conductive polymer-graphite plates to around 20 companies. The firm are currently concentrating on manufacturing small bipolar plates for portable devices, including rechargeable electronic gadgets and, intriguingly, remote CCTV. The company also manufactures larger bipolar plates, which are likely to be used for portable applications, including by the military, in future. The company has recently discovered some novel properties of its proprietary Electrophen conductive composite material – including semiconductivity, and is in the process of filing patents for the discoveries. For more on patent activity, see Fuel Cell Today’s new Quarter 1 2008 Patent Review.
I also caught up with Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, who hit the news recently when they signed a deal with model car manufacturer Corgi to co-develop their latest-generation fuel cell toy car, the H2Go. The company was recently one a winner of the 2008 Toy Award and also has teamed up with Wa Shing Toys, one of China’s biggest toy manufacturers to manufacture its fuel cell toy cars. The H2Go features a remote control system, steerable wheels and an on-board storage system allowing the car to move around independently of the refuelling station. This feature, allowing ‘continuous play’ is expected to be a big hit with children and adults alike. Horizon and Corgi are hoping to launch the RC car in September, in time for the Christmas toy market. The previous generation H-racer has sold in large numbers – we estimate above 10,000 – and the revenue derived from this is being channelled not only into a new generation of fuel cell toys but also into projects as diverse as fuel cell aircraft, fuel cell bikes, portable and stationary power. Of these, the company recently demonstrated its fuel cell powered unmanned aerial vehicle which flew 125 km on a quarter tank of hydrogen - a new record. Another promising development is the portable ‘Hydropak’ which works on a dry hydride fuel to which the consumer ‘just adds water’. This portable power system is being aimed at the marine sector, particularly at liferafts where the Hydropak can be activated using seawater.

Nick
Being new to the industry and with the ominous knowledge that I have to get started on the Hydrogen and Infrastructure Survey 2008 (an annual survey published by Fuel Cell Today), I immediately set about looking for the energy supply companies. Interestingly I bumped into a Plug Power first, they have a newly developed Phosphoric Acid fuel cell system on display and are currently debating whether they should integrate this into the home fuelling station concept they have been developing with Honda over the last few years. Now in its 4th prototype development stage Plug Power believe it is ready to be integrated into the home and it is just a question of when.
I also came across StatoilHydro and Linde, both companies have made a business of supplying hydrogen to a wide range of businesses and from what they tell me, they are hedging their bets on hydrogen refuelling stations being the next big growth area. But perhaps the most interesting insights into the hydrogen fuelling debate came from a fuel cell company that is new on the scene, Brian Tian and Shi Tao from Pearl Hydrogen in Shanghai, believe the breakthrough to the chicken and egg scenario could come from China. With the large number of bicycles in Shanghai and the way their existing gas distribution system works, Shanghai could be distributing hydrogen in canisters to up to 100000 cyclists in the next 3 to 5 years.
More tomorrow from us but finally our prize draw for three copies of the Fuel Cell Today Industry Review (2008) is now underway so if you come to Hannover don’t forget to drop a card in the jar on our stand if you want to enter the competition. The draw will take place on Friday afternoon and we will post out for free the copies.

Quote of the conference so far: “our fuel cell is bit***ing” – don’t know what they mean!

Kerry-Ann, Jon and Nick.