Fuel Cell Analysis and Demonstration

l Precious Metal Availability and Cost Analysis for PEMFC Commercialization 

Eric J. Carlson (Primary Contact) and Dr. Johannes H.J. Thiissen 

The project has been broken into five tasks as follows  

Tasks 1 and 4 were scheduled for the fiscal years 2001 and 2002. The balance of the tasks will be completed in 2003. 

Successful adoption of fuel cells in transportation applications over the long-term could create markets on the order of ten million vehicles, leading to significant pressure on PGM suppliers to increase production capacity and supply. Consideration of stationary and portable applications for fuel cells further increases the demands on PGM supplies. Clearly, the combination of stationary, portable and transportation markets for fuel cells will create pressure on the PGM industry to increase supplies and might cause rapidly escalating prices (thereby threatening fuel cell market viability) unless action is taken to guide the process. 

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