Loughborough, UK – 23 Oct 2019, Intelligent Energy the UK fuel cell engineering business announced today at a ceremony in Wuhan that it has signed a three-way memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Tri-Ring Group and Hynertech Co. Ltd to collaborate in the Chinese automotive market.
As part of the MOU the three partners will target the full-scale commercial production in China of Tri-Ring road vehicles incorporating Intelligent Energy’s high power fuel cell technology and hydrogen supply systems provided by Hynertech.
In addition, a development agreement will be entered into to build one or more demonstration vehicles using Intelligent Energy’s fuel cell system, which will be used by Tri-Ring to conduct trials and provide demonstrations to potential customers.
Intelligent Energy CEO, David Woolhouse commented “Tri-Ring and Hynertech are excellent partners for us in developing the fuel cell automotive market in China. Fuel cells are a significant and growing part of the solution for zero emission vehicles.” He added “coming fast on the heels of our recent UK Government Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) award to expand our manufacturing capability in the UK, there is now increasing momentum to grow sales of our high power automotive fuel cell products.”
About Intelligent Energy
Intelligent Energy is focused on the development and manufacture of its Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell products for customers in the automotive, aerospace, generator, telecoms, materials handling and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sectors. Intelligent Energy is built on 30 years of PEM fuel cell development. Following acquisition by Meditor Energy, part of the Meditor Group, in October 2017 Meditor has accelerated investment to facilitate further development and commercialisation of the technology and expansion of the product offering. The company is headquartered and manufactures in Loughborough in the UK, with additional offices and representation in the US, Japan, China and South Korea.
About Hynertech
Hynertech Co., Ltd. was cofounded in 2014 by Prof. Dr. Hansong Cheng, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and Furui Special Equipment Co. Ltd. of Jiangsu Province, China. The company has developed state-of-the-art technologies to store hydrogen at ambient conditions with high gravimetric and volumetric densities using liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technologies. It provides customers with LOHC materials and technologies to store and deliver hydrogen safely and supplies a series of hydrogen release equipment to meet demand for use in automotive and stationary applications. The company is headquartered in Wuhan Airport Economic & Technological Development Zone, PR China, with business locations in Shanghai, Tianjin, Kunming and Hefei. Its customers include major auto and electric grid companies in China and its customer base is expanding rapidly. Hynertech has established a strong intellectual property position with a few dozens of patents and patent applications in the area of LOHC technology and fuel cells.
About Tri-Ring Group
Tri-Ring Group Corporation is a large provincial state-owned manufacturing enterprise supervised and administrated under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Hubei Provincial People’s Government (SASAC Hubei) which performs investors’ duties on behalf of the government with total assets amounting to RMB 15 billion Yuan, mainly engaged in production and operation of special purpose vehicle, automobile components and CNC metalforming equipment. The corporation’s fully owned subsidiaries and holding companies are located in Wuhan, Shiyan, Xiangyang, Suizhou, Huangshi, Xianning, Huanggang and other cities and its holding company Xiangyang Automobile Bearing Co., Ltd is listed in Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
About Fuel Cells
Fuel cell technology is similar to battery technology in that individual cells are built up to give the desired power output. However, fuel cells do not run out of charge as batteries do and will produce power for as long as hydrogen fuel is provided to the cell. Hydrogen is readily available around the world, often generated using green energy.
Fuel cells are deployed in multiple applications where clean, lightweight, efficient and cost-effective power is required. Fast re-fuelling and lack of emissions makes fuel cell technology the immediate choice for forklift trucks and warehousing. Fuel cells are common place in clean construction and backup power for critical telecoms. Powering UAVs with fuel cells allows three times the flying time which gives significant advantages in applications such as aerial surveying and filming.
Zero emission hydrogen fuel cell technology will be preferred to battery technology in vehicles where rapid re-fuelling, high power and long range are important. Typical fuel cell applications include SUVs, buses and trucks, along with smaller cars where a high availability is critical, e.g. taxis and shared vehicles. Over 13,000 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are on the road today. FCEVs are expected to be an integral part of the connected and autonomous vehicle (“CAV”) revolution over the coming years.
Fuel cells are expected to become a dominant technology in de-carbonised aerospace.
Source：Intelligent Energy