UCLB News

UCLB spinout Bramble Energy reveals world’s ‘lowest cost’ hydrogen fuel cell

3 October 2023

Bramble Energy has released a whitepaper revealing its solution to achieving a game-changing $100 per kilowatt fuel cell stack.

Currently, fuel cell costs remain a major barrier to mass hydrogen adoption. Bramble, however, estimates that its stack cost would be ten-times lower than existing technology and the ‘world’s cheapest to date’.

It revealed that the cost could be cut even further through scalability, with the whitepaper detailing how a $60/kW stack can be brought to market ‘at speed’.

The whitepaper highlights printed circuit board fuel cell (PCBFC™) technology as solution to reducing cost per kW for fuel cells. PCBFC™ can be manufactured in almost any size or arrangement at much greater speed and scale than traditional electrochemical stacks, at a much lower cost. Bramble’s digitally tooled fuel cell design also empowers customers to control their own supply chain.

Currently in early phase testing and in-work through its UK supply chain, short stack testing of this technology will be conducted in Q4 2023 after further core module optimisation; with full stack testing expected in Q2 2024.

Dr Tom Mason, Bramble Energy co-founder and CEO, said: “Industries are in desperate need of attainable, sustainable, clean energy solutions, so our mission at Bramble Energy is removing the biggest barriers to hydrogen adoption. With high cost hindering the hydrogen fuel cell industry for years, this whitepaper demonstrates how our printed circuit board fuel cell technology can deliver fuel cells at an achievable cost and the speed at which it be realised compared to existing technology. We hope this paper will provide industries from mobility to energy storage the encouragement for fuel cell technology to reach mass adoption as quickly as possible, and as a result, begin decarbonising immediately.”

A long standing relationship between UCLB and Bramble Energy, which began in 2011, marked the start of the company’s commercialisation journey. It was then that UCLB decided to patent the unique technology which formed the basis of the spinout’s mission to power net zero.

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