Nuvera Fuel Cells Inc. (Cambridge, MA) announced that it has improved the performance of its gasoline fuel processors and proton-exchange membrane fuel cell stacks for automotive applications. Nuvera, in conjunction with the US Department of Energy (DOE) and a leading European automaker, demonstrated a 75kW/l gasoline fuel processor, named Star™, which is capable of processing up to 200kWh of California grade gasoline at greater than 80% efficiency, and is designed for manufacturing and integration into a light-duty, fuel-cell-powered vehicle.
Nuvera is also demonstrating a laboratory prototype that starts in less than 60 seconds, also funded by DOE, which utilizes no electrical heaters during start up and is critical to keeping drive-cycle efficiencies high. The company also gained performance data from an on-road hybrid fuel cell vehicle demonstration with a major Italian automotive research organization. The vehicle prototype, which uses Nuvera's metallic 7kWe direct water injection fuel cell stack as a range extender, has logged more than 3,000km without incident or decay in performance.
Finally, Nuvera recently unveiled its Andromeda™ metallic, bi-polar, plate stack architecture, at the 2003 Hannover Fair in Germany. The 75kWe fuel cell stack, capable of operating on reformate and hydrogen at both high and low pressures, has a nominal power density of 1.2kW/l and a peak power density of 1.5kW/l, which places it among the leaders in the industry for packaging and fuel flexibility. It also boasts robust structural design features for shock and vibration resistance to endure everyday automotive use.
