The Nexus-fc consortium has revealed that it will receive around €1.4m (US$1.6m) from the SME Innovation Programme. This round of public funding will help develop and produce a grid-independent battery-buffered fast-charging station for public transportation.
The fast-charging concept proposed will look to avoid expensive grid expansion at stations in Germany without sufficient grid connection power, and will buffer power peaks via a fuel cell to balance the energy received over the day.
The use of Proton Motor fuel cells as energy storage systems is expected to make a decisive contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.
Nexus-fc is a collaborative program comprising In-der-City-Bus, Proton Motor Fuel Cell, Schaefer Elektronik GmbH and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, while the company Fischer Power Solutions is a non-applicant associated partner.
In 2019, Proton Motor and Schaefer Elektronik announced the Nexus-e joint venture, which will work on the development and marketing of fuel cell fast-charging systems for electric vehicles.