Through a newly signed supply agreement, PowerCell’s polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack S3 – which produces electricity and heat from hydrogen fuel while only emitting air and water – will be manufactured and sold by Bosch. With this, PowerCell will greatly enhance its production capacity while supporting the growth of the business. The company will also work on the development of next generation fuel cell stacks.
The latest agreement grants Bosch with the exclusive rights to manufacture and sell the PowerCell S3 fuel cell stack to companies working within the automotive sector, and builds on a collaboration formed in April 2019 which saw the duo discussing the industrialization, production and sale of PowerCell’s S3.
Bosch will now add PowerCell’s volumes of S3 to its own production operations in Germany. As part of the manufacturing process, Bosch will deliver tested and activated 100kW S3 PEM fuel cell stacks to PowerCell’s Gothenburg site in Sweden.
While Bosch builds fuel cell stacks for the automotive industry, PowerCell will retain the full rights for other applications and sectors and will continue to produce fuel cell systems for maritime, aviation, power generation and off-road customers.
“The agreement with Bosch significantly increases our production capacity and gives us the opportunity to effectively meet the rapidly increasing demand for our leading hydrogen electric solutions,” commented Richard Berkling, CEO, PowerCell. “We continue to create value for our customers through leading products, innovation and development of the next generation of fuel cell stacks.”
“The supply agreement is one of the results from multiple years of good collaboration between Bosch and PowerCell,” said Thomas Wintrich, senior vice president of business unit fuel cell mobility solutions, Bosch. “It supports our goals for an emission-free mobility and contributes to the development of Bosch fuel cell technology in Europe. We are happy to support PowerCell with our scaled-up manufacturing capabilities.”
In 2022, PowerCell signed an agreement to deliver 5,000 fuel cell stacks and the supporting systems to ZeroAvia for its emission-free aircraft. Deliveries to ZeroAvia are scheduled to begin in 2024.