BOC FOUNDATION SUPPORTS HYDROGEN FUEL CELL URBAN CONCEPT CAR

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BOC FOUNDATION SUPPORTS HYDROGEN FUEL CELL URBAN CONCEPT CAR
20 September 2006 - BOC Gases

The BOC Foundation has awarded OSCar Automotive a grant to develop a powertrain for a two-seat urban vehicle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The grant will help fund the two year Hyrban project which aims to prove that practical hydrogen fuel cell urban vehicles are readily engineered using existing fuel cell technology.

The Hyrban concept car will have an electric motor in each wheel powered primarily by a fuel cell. The motors will become generators under braking and will charge ultra-capacitors, which will provide most of the power for acceleration. This allows the vehicle to have the acceleration of a Smart Car, despite the fuel cell only having an output of around 6kW (less power than that required to run 4 electric kettles) and the energy consumption of a moped. The car could cruise at around 50mph.

The project is being developed by three partners; OSCar Automotive, Oxford and Cranfield Universities. Oxford University’s Department of Engineering Science is developing the electric motors while Cranfield University is developing the computer simulations (used in optimising the design) and the vehicle control and energy management strategy. Both universities are already working with OSCar, BOC, the Morgan Motor Company and Qinetiq on the LIFECar project, a fuel cell powered sportscar, part-funded by the DTI’s technology programme.

Hugo Spowers, managing director of OSCar commented: “We are very pleased that the BOC Foundation is supporting this work which promises to overcome the main barriers to the commercialisation of fuel cell powered cars. The two generally accepted barriers are fuel cell cost and the problem of hydrogen storage, but by developing the vehicle architecture to suit a fuel cell, solutions to these barriers are within our grasp.”

Said Spowers: “A sophisticated hybrid powertrain will require a fuel cell of less than one quarter of the power required conventionally,and thus one quarter the cost. With energy consumption also similarly reduced, there is no problem in storing enough hydrogen on board the vehicle.”

Barry Beecroft, director of The BOC Foundation added: “The BOC Foundation is pleased to support practical demonstrations of hydrogen fuel cells, particularly those that will in turn, add to our knowledge of the advancing hydrogen economy. The urban vehicle segment is the most promising for the early adoption of such vehicles and the infrastructure necessary to support them.”

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About: BOC Gases
Through its PGS line of business, BOC supplies gas and related solutions to the chemicals, petroleum, glass, water services, electronic packaging, fibre optics, hydrogen energy, metals and food industries. BOC helps meet customer needs in a variety of ways, from the supply of a single gas or application through to designing, constructing and operating fully integrated gas and utilities schemes.

The BOC Group, which serves two million customers in more than 50 countries, is one of the largest and most global of the world's leading gases companies. It employs some 44,500 people worldwide and had annual sales of over £4.3 billion in 2003. Further information about The BOC Group may be obtained on the Internet at www.boc.com

The BOC Group has an international portfolio of companies grouped for management control and reporting into three lines of business: Process Gas Solutions, Industrial and Special Products, and BOC Edwards. It also has a specialist logistics business, Gist.

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