Brit Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Maker Claims Huge Production Cost Cut

A British hydrogen fuel-cell specialist is claiming a breakthrough in producing automotive grade fuel-cells ten-times cheaper than those currently in use.

The company, Bramble Energy based in Crawley some 30 miles south of London, has published a white paper it claims reveals its solution to creating a $100 per kilowatt fuel stack achievable today compared to existing stacks that cost around $1,000/kW, to produce. It further claims that it has identified the path to creating fuel stacks that could be produced as cheaply as $60 a unit at unprecedented speed to market as a result of scale.

The claims could greatly accelerate hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain adoption because cost of production has long been the technology’s biggest weakness against BEV powertrains. Bramble Energy says the key to cutting costs comes from its patented printed circuit board (PCB) fuel-cell technology claiming innovative design, materials selection and manufacturing processes.

Its whitepaper highlights that with achieving economies of scale in terms of purchasing power and improved process flows, it has the potential to achieve a PCB cost of $60/kW at 1.5 Wcm-2 power rating should production be in the hundreds of megawatts. Meanwhile the company says it continues to innovate and has developed a new stack structure, with this latest evolution in structure enabling this significant cost reduction. Currently in early phase testing and in-work through its UK supply chain, short stack testing of this technology will be conducted in Q4 2023 after further core module optimization, with full stack testing expected in Q2 2024.

Dr Tom Mason, Bramble Energy co-founder and CEO, said: “With high cost hindering the hydrogen fuel cell industry for years, this whitepaper demonstrates how our printed circuit board fuel cell technology can deliver fuel cells at an achievable cost and the speed at which it be realized compared to existing technology. We hope this paper will provide industries from mobility to energy storage the encouragement for fuel cell technology to reach mass adoption as quickly as possible, and as a result, begin decarbonizing immediately.”

— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_  and Threads