Chart and Ballard test liquid hydrogen-powered fuel cell

Chart Industries and Ballard Power Systems have successfully tested a fuel cell powered by liquid hydrogen.

Both companies have provided hydrogen solutions and equipment to the industry for multiple decades.  Last year, they signed a memorandum of understanding for the joint development of integrated system solutions. This included a fuel cell engine with onboard liquid hydrogen storage and vaporization for the transportation industry.

For this test, they paired a Ballard FCmove-HD fuel cell with a Chart liquid onboard hydrogen (HLH2) vehicle fuel system; the testing took place at Chart’s hydrogen test facility in Minnesota.

The demonstration thus confirmed that heavy-duty vehicles powered by Ballard fuel cells will be able to employ Chart HLH2 vehicle fuel systems that use liquid H2 as a fuel.

Liquid hydrogen has a significant space, weight, and range advantage compared with gaseous H2. Therefore, it is allowing for up to double the range without space claim and payload impacts. It also allows for simplified fueling infrastructure for heavy-duty mobility applications including marine.

This recent work builds upon Chart’s previous testing of the Chart HLH2 vehicle fuel system. It also continues on long-established credentials in LNG service for vehicle fuel systems.

Building upon this success will be to identify applications in which liquid hydrogen has the potential to unlock long-distance opportunities, including marine. The products tested as part of the work to date include Ballard’s FCmove and Chart’s liquid H2 tanks which would be suitable for such applications.

Chart and Ballard say they will work to identify a potential demonstrator for further liquid H2 testing over the coming months.