SDTC awards Ballard C$2M to extend fuel cell bus project

16 February 2013

Ballard Power Systems has been awarded approximately C$2.0 million in funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) for a one-year extension to a project that is furthering commercialization of the company’s fuel cell power module for use in the transit bus market.

In January 2010, SDTC awarded Ballard up to C$4.8 million for a development project under which Ballard has now completed the design, testing and implementation of new sub-systems for its FCvelocity-HD6 power module. The project has improved durability and reliability of the power module as well as reducing its cost.

Many of these design improvements were successfully implemented into the BC Transit fuel cell hybrid bus fleet in Whistler, British Columbia, leading to improved overall performance. Whistler’s 20-bus fleet has surpassed the 1.7 million mile (2.8 million kilometer) threshold for revenue service to that community, since entering service in early-2010.

During the project extension, to run through October 2013, Ballard will focus on standardization of certain product components and optimization of the power module’s balance-of-plant and control systems in order to further reduce cost as well as improve manufacturability of the FCvelocity-HD6.

We appreciate the continued support of the Canadian Federal Government and SDTC which is certainly helping accelerate product cost reductions. In turn, this enables more competitive positioning relative to incumbent diesel buses, which will further the adoption of clean energy fuel cell products for mass transit in Canada, the US, Europe and other locations around the globe.

—Tony Guglielmin, Ballard CFO