Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Does anybody have experience of the use of fuel cells?
Either on or off a boat, as either main or auxiliary power supply to replace conventional diesel-generators.
I believe there is or are some boats with fuel cells and would be very interested to hear of peoples experience with them.

I also believe there are some small portable suitcase units for sale in the U.S, but their outputs are comparitively low.

 

Fuel cells for propulsion have yet to go mainstream, mostly due to $$$$$.
There are a number of Canadian companies currently working to put the various technologies involved into production. Look up Ballard, Hydrogenics, Stuart Energy, among many others. SOFC technology in particular looks very promising for the marine industry as well as for stationary generation. A great deal of work and money is going towards PEM units for cars and buses, which are still horrendously expensive. It is currently possible, with a bit of research, to buy a fuel-cell based generator to replace the ordinary diesel backup generators used by hospitals and the military; prices on these units are starting to come down. The portable suitcase units you mention are really just technology demonstrators for what is known as a direct-methanol or DM cell, which is expected to soon replace lithium batteries in laptops and other consumer devices.

 

An example of the "suitcase" model is http://www.max-power.com/fuelcell/

These are very attractive to me as a means of charging at sea, but still too expensive and I do not have any real-world reports on them.

My understanding with respect to fuel cells capable of outputting at a rate sufficient to provide propulsion or real-time electrical power echoes that of Marshmat: very expensive, and more combersome in terms of operation.

Let us know if you find something; as I note, I'm keeping an eye out, but haven't found the sweet-spot yet.

 

Cool toy, what's the price?

 

5000 Euros from their FAQ's. Not sure what fuel cartridges cost. For certain applications this might be a reasonable cost.

 

Fuel for a DMFC is worth about 60-80 cents a litre, as I recall, although it will probably be sold in tiny $40 cartridges much like printer ink is now. Not sure what it works out as on a $/kWh basis.

 

http://www.fuelcells.org/

 

Fuel cell driven yacht

http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage1777.html

 

Another example of fuel-cell propulsion (with further links [check the "in the news", e.g. for a few third-party articles]):

http://www.haveblue.com/