Based in Rolle, Switzerland, the company has supported the development of over 100-million vehicles with its products and has an annual average launch rate of 100 new applications spanning fuel cell powertrains, electric powertrains, gas, diesel and natural gas.

With its innovations for fuel cell powertrains, which the company launched to support a decarbonised future, Garrett helps its customers to set new benchmarks in vehicle performance while evolving fuel efficiency.

Here, H2 View sits down exclusively with Lutz Glaeser, General Manager of Fuel Cells, and Peter Davies, Director of Powertrain, to discuss the company’s role in the hydrogen market, its product offering and plans for the future.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today. Can you please tell us a little more about Garrett Advancing Motion’s role in the hydrogen economy?  

Garrett has been developing high speed centrifugal compressors for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells for a decade. We’ve been in series production for fuel cells since 2016, and continue to innovate and launch new products with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) globally.

Why don’t you tell us about the company’s fuel cell electric vehicle technologies?

Garrett offers high-speed electric compressors to pump air through a PEM fuel cell’s air path. The air flow delivers oxygen to the cathode and distributes humidity uniformly to keep the bipolar plates at the correct moisture level for optimum efficiency. It also helps evacuate any excess water content from the fuel cell.

H2 View understands Garrett’s two-stage compressor enables automakers to optimise electric powertrain potential by boosting hydrogen fuel cell stacks. Can you tell us more about this please?

Garrett’s two-stage compressor is powered by a 20kW electric motor and runs at speed sup to 100,000-revolutions-per-minute (rpm). It has two custom designed aluminium centrifugal compressor arranged either side of the e-motor to balance thrust load of minimise thrust losses.

The machine runs on air bearings to avoid any hydrocarbons poisoning the fuel cell stack. It can reach a combined pressure ratio in excess of four and has exceptional width and benchmark efficiency at three pressure ratio. It has a permanent magnet motor and is controlled in this generation by an external invertor operating at 400V.

What is it about hydrogen that has Garrett so convinced?

We believe hydrogen offers an energy density that is very compelling for mobility applications such as commercial vehicles, public transport, off-highway and agricultural machinery, as well as rail, maritime and aerospace.

What’s next for Garrett? Does the company have any plans to further expand its technologies for fuel cell electric vehicles?

The next step is to expand our fuel cell compressor portfolio to cover light, medium and heavy-duty applications. Our second-generation machines, with a wider range of compressor and turbine options, will launch in 2022. These will be followed by our third generation, designed for full automotive scale, from 2023 onwards.

Focusing now on the wider hydrogen economy, what do you think needs to be done to see the full potential of fuel cell electric vehicles to be achieved?

Wide-scale collaboration is required at a global and regional level to ensure that policy and the whole industry moves forward together to provide customers with attractive vehicles and a robust hydrogen infrastructure that they can both trust and afford.