CamMotive, an e-powertrain development consultancy, has expanded its hydrogen fuel cell testing and development capabilities with the launch of a new facility in Cambridge, UK. This dedicated test site aims to advance the viability of hydrogen fuel cell technologies and accelerate innovation in clean energy markets.
The development of this test facility is part of CamMotive’s role in a consortium led by Ford to build a small fleet of prototype hydrogen fuel cell versions of its electric E-Transit commercial vehicle. The three-year FCVGen2.0 project, announced in May 2023, is partially funded by the UK government through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK‘s Collaborative R&D program.
As part of the project, CamMotive’s Cambridge site will evaluate and optimize next-generation hydrogen fuel cell technologies for transportation and stationary power applications.
“Our objective was to create a test environment to support and accelerate the development cycle for new hydrogen fuel cell technologies, including hardware and control system optimization,” said Bruce Campbell, director of CamMotive.
The facility can test hydrogen fuel cell systems up to 150kW, with potential to accommodate systems over 200kW. The company has developed software to control the fuel cell test environment and measure key metrics such as electrical power output, thermal output, hydrogen usage and emissions.
Data from these tests will be used to evaluate component behavior and overall system performance, aiming to enable optimization for efficiency, transient response, safety and service life.
Campbell added, “The launch of our new test facility marks the latest phase of our development to support and advance the viability of hydrogen technologies. Our next step is to expand our test infrastructure, including more test cells and a flexible fuel cell stack and balance of plant evaluation platform to meet the demands of the clean energy market.”
In addition to meeting the needs of the Ford E-Transit project, CamMotive says the test environment is designed to serve the broader hydrogen fuel cell market in the UK and globally.