Plug-In Hybrid Consortium Grows

Hydrogenics, a Mississauga, Ontario (Canada) based provider of hydrogen and fuel cell products is the newest member of the The Plug-In Hybrid Development Consortium ("Consortium"). The Consortium consists of automotive suppliers, manufacturers and other organizations who have joined together with the goal of accelerating the commercial production of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs).

PHEVs are dual-mode hybrids that can run on low cost electric fuel or gasoline. Plug-in Hybrids can drive their first 25 to 50 miles on clean renewable electric fuel for about one quarter of the price of gasoline before turning on the combustion engine,according to the Consortium.

Plug-in hybrid architecture provides an accelerated path toward the commercialization of fuel cell technology since optimized battery-dominant plug-in hybrid vehicle allows the size of the fuel cell system to be kept to a minimum, keeping overall system and vehicle cost down, according to the Consortium. Additionally, a battery-dominant fuel cell PHEV allows the best of fuel cell and battery technologies to co-exist in one vehicle with extended driving range, zero emissions, and domestically produced fuel.

The Consortium was formed to fill in the R & D gap between component suppliers and OEMs. It plans to work with automobile manufacturers by coordinating and accelerating the development of hybrid components and demonstrate these advanced technologies in "next generation" plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

"Hydrogenics is pleased to join the Consortium to explore how plug-in hybrid architecture can be a viable platform for advancing the affordability and commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. We look forward to joining efforts to deliver cleaner transportation alternatives that reduce our dependency on petroleum," said John Werderman, vice president business development for Hydrogenics.

The Plug-In Hybrid Development Consortium