The Swedish Energy Agency is providing funding of 2.7 million euro. Powercell Sweden AB will implement this project, and the members of the consortium will receive shares in this company. Volvo and Statoil are former owners of Powercell. The company was established in 2005 to develop hydrogen-driven auxiliary power units (APUs). This is equipment that supplies energy in a vehicle that is used for functions other than the horsepower required for propulsion. The 5-10kW APUs produced by Powercell are used in heavy-duty vehicles and other high-tech niche markets, such as the aviation industry.

Powercell has now produced two patented technologies: a fuel cell reformer and a PEM fuel cell (often used in transport applications), both destined for APUs. The fuel cell reformer produces hydrogen gas from biofuels, such as ethanol, DMR (dimethylether), biogas, methanol and biodiesel, but also from traditional petrol or diesel.

The PEM fuel cell then converts the hydrogen gas into electricity. The acronym PEM-FC stands for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell or Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell. This type of fuel cell works with a polymer electrolyte and catalysts. Ions are transported via hydrogen ions. The catalysts used for the ionisation are usually made of platinum or platinum-ruthenium.

Mr Per Wassen (Powercell) indicates that, thanks to this new reformer technology, the problem of rolling out an expensive hydrogen infrastructure has now been resolved. According to him, this removes an important hurdle. The APU technology is now ready for full-scale production.