By combining GM’s fuel cell expertise and Nel’s electrolyser knowledge, the companies hope to enable more cost competitive sources of renewable hydrogen.
Having been an early leader of industrial alkaline electrolyser production, Nel hopes it will be able to follow suit in the PEM field, which is believed to offer superior efficiency to alkaline methods.
Read more: Electrolyser technologies: PEM vs Alkaline electrolysis
GM has been developing and commercialising its HYDROTEC hydrogen fuel cell and will look to transfer its technology into Nel’s PEM platform.
Read more: General Motors expands fuel cell business with new applications
H2 View understands, as part of the agreement, Nel will compensate GM for the development work and intellectual property (IP) transfer on an ongoing basis and pay a license fee after successful commercialisation, dependent on how much of the end product is based on GM technology.
“General Motors is one of the global leaders in hydrogen fuel cell propulsion with more than 50 years of experience. We believe this collaboration will give us a competitive advantage in industrialising the production of our PEM electrolysers and further improving the efficiency of our technology,” said Håkon Volldal, CEO of Nel.
Charles Freese, Executive Director of Global HYDROTEC at General Motors, added, “Adding Nel as a strategic collaborator is an important step to help us commercialise fuel cell technology. Electrolysis is key to creating consistent, clean sources of hydrogen to power fuel cells. Nel has some of the most promising electrolyser technology to help develop clean hydrogen infrastructure, and we believe our HYDROTEC fuel cell IP can help them get closer to scale.”
H2 View’s Hydrogen Mobility Snap Summit – November 29
With the mobility pillar consistently a hot topic for hydrogen markets and arguably the most anticipated and relatable application of the energy transition, H2 View stages a Mobility Snap Summit this November to summarise the progress made in 2022 and look ahead to what’s still to come.
Infrastructure challenges remain. Questions linger over policy and implementation. Many wonder which strand of the transport sector will blaze the trail in hydrogen power first, and likewise which region. There are clear challenges ahead, yet considerable progress made in 2022 and bright spots ahead in 2023 and beyond.
Join H2 View this November for a half-day online event dedicated to unearthing the progress made, dissecting the challenges to be met and establishing the state-of-play across mobility as 2023 approaches. Find more information here.
Premium Subscribers to H2 View have access to this event as part of their subscription package; non-subscribers can secure access to the event with a delegate ticket ($99). All delegates can access the event on-demand from 1st December.