Consortium SimpleFuel Winners of $1 Million in U.S. Department of Energy's H-Prize will be exhibiting at the ACT-Expo-2017 booth number 1619
A consortium team of technology innovators comprised of Warminster PA based PDC Machines, Ivys Energy Solutions and McPhy North America (both of MA) who make up SimpleFuel have been awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office and the Hydrogen Education Foundation as the winner of the $1 million H2 Refuel H-Prize contest.
Hydrogen fuel and fuel cell electric vehicles are in the early commercialization phase in the United States as a clean energy mode of personal mobility enabling consumers to replicate their current driving experience with zero emissions.
About the H2 Refuel H-Prize
Hydrogen infrastructure remains a critical barrier to the widespread adoption of FCEVs. The future of FCEVs in a consumer environment is dependent upon a widely available network of fueling stations. At the current early stage of market introduction, there will be a need for small-scale refueling to serve communities and residences far from the commercial hydrogen fueling station network. The H2 Refuel competition was designed to help address this barrier through easily deployed small scale fueling systems for home and community use to bridge the gap while widespread infrastructure development takes place. The SimpleFuel device will become a major enabler of this early market.
"In 2007 Congress established this competition, with bipartisan support, to inspire creative approaches and advances for hydrogen energy technologies," stated Jeff Serfass, President of the Hydrogen Education Foundation. "The development of the hydrogen infrastructure became the target of this competition, and I am pleased that DOE and HEF together have delivered on the objective for the H-Prize with SimpleFuel's grand achievement," Serfass concluded.
“Launched in October 2014, the H2 Refuel H-Prize Competition challenged America’s innovators to deploy an on-site hydrogen generation system, using electricity or natural gas, to fuel hydrogen vehicles, that can be used in homes, community centers, small businesses, or similar locations”
About the SimpleFuel in the Contest
As the only Finalist- announced in Jan 2016- the Simplefuel team consortium designed a home-fleet refueling appliance to be a safe, small-scale hydrogen-refueling appliance capable of delivering up to 5 kg/day of hydrogen to vehicles at pressures up to 700 bar (10,000 psi). 5 kg of hydrogen fuel is enough to fill one fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) for 300-360 miles.
SimpleFuel constructed their system in 2016 at PDC’s headquarters in Warminster, Pennsylvania, followed by a 3-month data collection period, which ended in December 2016. During that time, an open house event was held, which was attend by DOE FCTO Director Sunita Satyapal, at which the team demonstrated their system by conducting a fueling of a Hyundai Tucson FCEV.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) analyzed the data collected during that testing period, and the cost information provided by the team was also independently reviewed. The H-Prize panel of judges deemed that the data collected showed that SimpleFuel's system met both the technical and cost criteria as outlined in the final competition guidelines, thereby unanimously declaring them the winner of the H2 Refuel H-Prize.
About the SimpleFuel and the future.
“The SimpleFuel product is aimed at addressing specific needs of the hydrogen infrastructure in the automotive and industrial mobility applications, “says Kareem Afzal partner and Vice President of PDC Machines. “This technology can be used in homes, community centers, small businesses, or similar locations for re-fueling hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles and material handling vehicles. PDC along with our consortium partners are eager to enter our next phase of commercializing this product. PDC is a long time advocate of American innovation, competitiveness and jobs creation. We are deeply excited to launch this product with our consortium partners. It is our vision that this will create long term opportunity for jobs creation and continual American Innovation and leadership in the clean energy space.”
The SimpleFuel team is a strong believer in reducing pollution, increasing energy efficiency, creating a cleaner environment and building a stronger economy through the use of clean, renewable sources of energy. The team have long championed the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier.
About PDC Machines:
Over the years PDC has partnered with the most prominent gas producers, technology and research companies in an effort to promote world-wide implementation of hydrogen as an energy carrier and to develop practical & economical products for this emerging market. PDC has provided a supportive role as a compressor technology provider and packager of demonstration and commercial installations throughout the world for hydrogen refueling of vehicles, buses, material handling vehicles and experimental aircraft.