U.S. & E.U. Market/Industry Research

Micro and Small Fuel Cell R&D, Commercial Implication and Market/Industry Trends

Publication Date	December 2002
Publisher	Fuji-Keizai
Product Type	Report
Pages	182
ISBN Number	not applicable
Product Code	FUJ00012

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Summary

Power consumption exists as one of the most serious challenges to the continuing mobile device evolution. With advancement in processor and display technology far outpacing similar advancement in battery technology, vendors must develop careful power consumption strategies.

Significant resources are devoted to seeking out the next major battery chemistry improvement since the evolution of Lithium-ion in the early 1990s, and component vendors are striving to push the performance and power management envelope.

Power requirements for portable devices in the future are to a significant degree driven by Moores law. This is because more powerful processors and chips, which will run at faster clock speeds, will be placed into these electronic devices thus enabling more features and functions. These new features and functions will require more energy.

To reach higher energy densities we need to look at newer, non-traditional sources of energy. One of the most promising approaches for providing high energy density and longer runtime to portable products resides in a class of electrochemical cells that use air-breathing electrodes. Metal-air cells and hydrogen fuel cells are two prominent examples of this air-breathing electrochemical technology. In metal-air cells the air electrode is combined with a metal anode, such as zinc or aluminum. In a fuel cell, the air electrode is combined with hydrogen as the anode to complete the electrochemical couple.

Fuel cells have the theoretical potential to increase the energy density to a higher level than most advanced battery technologies. We will be investigating fuel cells units in an electrical power output ranging from less than 1 watt to around several hundred watts and those companies that are at the forefront of research and development of this hot new technology.

Even though the fuel cell was discovered over one hundred years ago, there are few records of significant development work in portable fuel cells until the early 1990s. However to date most of companies in this market have only produced one or two prototypes.

Without fuel cells, reliance will remain upon the incremental improvements in the energy densities of batteries. Specifically, developers and consumers will be forced to either 1) carry spare batteries or 2) accept a larger battery in their device or 3) hope that electronics developers are able to reduce power consumption in their new devices. These are not attractive options.

In this report, we examine 46 fuel cell companies in the micro and small fuel cell markets:
25 research and development companies and institutes, 10 component companies, 3 nanotechnology component companies and 8 testing measurement and consulting companies.

Content

1 Overview Of Current R&d Industry Trends
- Fuel Cells versus Batteries
- 1.1 Micro Fuel Cells
  - 1.1.1 R&D Segment
  - 1.1.2 R&D and Industry Activities and Trends
  - 1.1.3 Competitive Analysis
- 1.2 Small Fuel Cells
  - 1.2.1 R&D Segment
  - 1.2.2 R&D and Industry Activities and Trends
  - 1.2.3 Competitive Analysis
2 Major Research Findings
- 2.1 Micro Fuel Cells
  - 2.1.1 Markets and Marketing Trends
    - Marketing and Demographics
    - Distribution
  - 2.1.2 Category and Technology Trends
    - Fuel Cell Design Considerations
    - Fuel Cell Design Problems
    - Direct Methanol Fuel Cells Problems and Solutions
    - Metal-Air Cells Problems and Solutions
  - 2.1.3 Product Development Trends
    - Metal-air for consumer markets
  - 2.1.4 Commercialization Trends
    - Fuel Cell Costs
    - Scientific and Technical Barriers to Commercialization
    - Specifications for a commercial product
  - 2.1.5 Patent Trends
  - 2.1.6 Capital Markets and Strategic Alliance Trends
    - Small start up company strategies
    - Financing and Venture Capital
    - Government Assistance in Financing
  - 2.1.7 Core Strengths
  - 2.1.8 Strategic Conclusions
- Regulatory Issues
- 2.2 Small Fuel Cell
  - 2.2.1 Market and Technology Opportunities
  - 2.2.2 Category and Technology Trends
  - 2.2.3 Product Development Trends
- Military Market
  - 2.2.4 Commercialization Trends
  - 2.2.5 Patent Trends
  - 2.2.6 Strategic Alliances and Capital Market Trends
  - 2.2.7 Core Strengths
  - 2.2.8 Strategic Conclusions
3 Global Market Opportunities And Forecasts
- 3.1 Micro Fuel Cells
  - 3.1.1 Worldwide Micro Fuel Cell Shipment
  - 3.1.2 Worldwide Market for Methanol Fuel Cell Cartridges
  - 3.1.3 Worldwide Market for Micro Fuel Cells by Technology
- 3.2 Small Fuel Cells
  - 3.2.1 Worldwide Market for Small Portable Fuel Cells
4 Micro Fuel Cell Mobile Device Market
- 4.1 IT Devices Market
  - 4.1.1 Worldwide Market for Notebook PCs
  - 4.1.2 Worldwide Market for PDAs
- 4.2 Telecom Devices Market
  - 4.2.1 Worldwide Market for Cellular Phones
- 4.3 Other Mobile/Portable Devices Market
  - 4.3.1 Worldwide Market for Portable CD Players
  - 4.3.2 Worldwide Market for VIdeo Camcorders
5 Ranking Of Fuel Cell R&d Companies
- 5.1 Micro Fuel Cells Ranking
- 5.2 Small Fuel Cell Ranking
6 Fuel Cell Companies Status Summary
- 6.1 Fuel Cell R&D Companies by Application Type
- 6.2 Fuel Cell Component Companies by Application Type
- 6.3 Fuel Cell R&D Companies: Technology, Application and Target Market
- 6.4 Fuel Cell Companies: Status of Commercialization
7 R&d And Related Company Activities
- 7.1 R&D Companies
  - AER Energy
  - Aluminum Power Inc. and Trimol Group
  - Angstrom Power Inc.
  - Astris Energi
  - Ballard Power Systems Inc.
  - Case Western Reserve University
  - Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corporation
  - Electric Fuel Corp.
  - Enable Fuel Cells Corporation
  - Ener1, Inc.
  - Energy Related Devices Inc.
  - Energy VIsions Inc.
  - eVIonyx
  - Fraunhofer ISE
  - H Power Corporation
  - H2 ECOnomy
  - Manhattan Scientifics, Inc.
  - Mechanical technology, Inc. (MTI)
  - Medis Technology Ltd.
  - Motorola
  - Neah Power Systems
  - Palcan Fuel Cell Ltd.
  - PolyFuel
  - PowerZinc Electric Inc.
  - Smart Fuel Cell
- 7.2 Component Vendors
  - BASF
  - Cabot Corporation
  - Celgard Inc.
  - Dais-Analytic Corporation
  - David Fuel Cell Components
  - ElectroChem, Inc.
  - Element 1 Power Systems
  - Hoku Scientific
  - Timcal
  - TVN Systems
  - 7.2.1 Nanotechnology Component Companies
  - Materials and Electrochemical Research (MER)
  - Microcoating Technologies
  - Nanoproducts
- 7.3 Test Measurement and Consulting Companies
  - Advanced Measurements
  - American Reliance Inc.
  - Arbin Instrument Corp.
  - Bekk Tech LLC
  - Gamry Instruments, Inc.
  - Greenlight Power
  - Lynntech Industries, Ltd.
  - Scribner Associates
8 Market Reality And Directions
- 8.1 Fuel Cell Market Reality
  - What's Needed to Commercialize Fuel Cells
  - The Demand for Longer Lasting Power
  - Fuel Cell Development and Design
- 8.2 Assessment of Different Fuel Cell Technologies
  - Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells
  - Alkaline Fuel Cells
  - Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
  - Zinc-Air Fuel Cells
- 8.3 Future Direction
Appendices
Appendix: Fuel Cell Primer
- Fuel Cell Types for Micro and Small Applications
- Alkaline Fuel Cells
- Proton (or Polymer) Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells
- Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
- Metal air cells
- Zinc-Air Fuel Cells (ZAFC)
- Batteries