Advent Technologies Holdings announced the availability of its next-generation high-temperature (HT) Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA). These MEAs have already been provided for testing to select strategic partners. The Advent MEA is currently being developed within the framework of L’Innovator, the Company’s joint development program with the US Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Due to the high-temperature operation, Advent’s MEAs—the heart of the fuel cell—can work with impure hydrogen that can be reformed onboard from methanol, natural gas, and other renewable fuels. The new Advent MEA will be able at least to match the performance of today’s LT-PEM MEAs and to exceed the lifetime of Advent’s existing MEAs.

The first-year milestones already achieved were:

• Accelerated stress testing confirmed the potential for significant (>5x) improvement in lifetime versus current HT-PEM MEAs.

• Strong potential for 2x and 3x power density increase versus current HT-PEM MEAs.

Advent has distributed samples of its MEAs to major OEMs for test and evaluation. Advent is now in various discussions for joint development agreements in the genset, heavy duty automotive, marine, and aviation markets.

Advent intends to scale up the production capacity of Advent MEA in the order of 100s of kilowatts (fuel cell power equivalent) per month in mid-2023 and megawatts per month by the end of 2023.

Advent intends that both its own products (SereneU, Honey Badger, MZERØ) and third-party products will be able to use the new Advent MEAs in mass-production from 2024, according to the company’s growth plan.

To put it simply for the sake of our current and future customers and investors, we will soon be able to manufacture fuel cells that last at least three times as long and have double the power density of our previous systems. This development will revolutionize the fuel cell industry. These will be the first PEM-based fuel cells worldwide that can consistently operate above 100 ˚C for more than 10,000 hours and are ideal for heavy-duty mobility.

In addition, the HT-PEM technology can support multiple fuels, efuels, and low-grade hydrogen on board and operate under extreme conditions (-38 ˚C to +50 ˚C). The above is essential for mobility and off-grid applications and clearly separates us from current PEM technology competitors.

Since our IPO only a year ago, our goal has been to reduce the total cost of ownership of fuel cells to the point that we can replace diesel generators and combustion engines. The mandate from the aerospace, marine, and heavy-duty automotive industry is clear: they want to move to high-temperature fuel cell technology. We believe that we will be able to provide the best product at the best price. We are looking to form Joint Development Agreements with select strategic partners that will enable them to bring the next generation of fuel cells to the market, therefore replacing the need for conventional fuels while producing clean power.

—Dr. Vasilis Gregoriou, Advent’s Chairman and CEO

In addition, Advent announced significant progress with its MEA manufacturing scale-up plan, notably:

• A Boston-based team is working on the MEA manufacturing scale-up. The Hood Park, Massachusetts-based facility, is scheduled to be operational in Autumn of 2022. Until then, Advent will use toll coating partners for the first phase scale-up.

• A Patras, Greece-based team is working in recently upgraded facilities to produce the necessary monomers, polymers, and ionomers for the MEAs.

Advent is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with offices in California, Greece, Denmark, Germany, and the Philippines. With more than 100 patents issued for its fuel cell technology, Advent holds the I.P. for next-generation HT-PEM that enables various fuels to function at high temperatures and under extreme conditions.