Kenneth L Wagner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Horizon’s Fuel Cells Power the World’s First Affordable Hydrogen Car
London, June 16, 2009 – Today a new generation of fuel cells developed by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies
has enabled the world’s first low-cost and practical hydrogen car. The top secret UK development unveiled
today in London is a two-seater zero emissions hydrogen-electric city car with an expected fuel consumption
equivalent to 250 miles per gallon (US), four to five times better than today’s best available hybrid electric
vehicles. What’s more, this innovative car could be made available to consumers for just 200 ($315) per month.
Developed by Riversimple, the small city car integrates a 6kW fuel cell from Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies.
The vehicle maximizes energy efficiency by utilizing lightweight composite materials, eliminating heavy
mechanical components, and by networking fuel cells with ultracapacitors and 60% regenerative braking
energy into one symbiotic system. The result is ground-breaking: 240 miles (390 km) can be traveled on one
small tank of hydrogen weighing only 2.2 lbs (1 kilogram).
Hugo Spowers, founder of Riversimple, states “Horizon’s approach to commercialization of fuel cells perfectly
complements our approach to bringing hydrogen fuel cell cars to market. Thanks to this partnership, we believe
that we are closer to market with a commercially viable fuel cell car than anyone else in the world.”
The networked fuel cell power-train design led to a reduction in fuel cell power requirements by a factor of 6
compared to other urban vehicles of similar performance, and by a factor of 15 compared to other fuel cell
prototype vehicles – an effort further magnified by Horizon’s ability to supply high power fuel cells at greatly
reduced costs.
“Many people lost track of the fact that fuel cell cars are electric cars, since fuel cells store and deliver electrical
energy, just like batteries – only with significantly more storable energy per unit of weight. Batteries and
ultracapacitors on the other hand, offer more power per unit of weight, but less storable energy” said Taras
Wankewycz, one of Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies’ founders. “Technologies have evolved, but more
importantly, Riversimple brought them together as one system, in a way that greatly exceeds the sum of their
individual benefits. This next generation hydrogen-electric car brings electric vehicles into a new stage where
range, charge-time and cost are no longer commercial barriers.”
The Riversimple car will be commercialized internationally using an “open-source” production model inspired
by the software industry, creating new entrepreneurial possibilities around the world and the promise of car
manufacturing jobs within the communities where the vehicle is used. Because the car can be produced and
maintained locally, the carbon footprint associated to century-old models of centralized car manufacturing and
distribution is also significantly reduced.
Fuel Cells and Refueling
A fuel cell converts the chemical energy of hydrogen into usable electric energy without combustion, with
water as its only by-product. Unlike batteries, fuel cells separate energy storage and energy conversion
functions. If used as a primary source of power like many fuel cell vehicle developments to date, fuel cells can
become extremely expensive as power needs impacts their size. But when changing the configuration and
coupling the high energy density quality of fuel cells with higher power density ultra-capacitors, it is possible to
greatly increase the performance of electric vehicles while reducing their cost. Ultra-capacitors are charged by
the car’s regenerative braking system, providing power for acceleration. By de-coupling acceleration from
cruising, a much smaller, lower power and lower cost fuel cell can be used.
With a smaller fuel cell consuming much less hydrogen, the vehicle no longer depends on large storage tanks,
which greatly reduces the costs and complexities so far associated with hydrogen supply. Working
simultaneously with BOC to make hydrogen affordable, sustainable and readily available for refueling, , what
many believed would be twenty or thirty years away can be done today by using an existing industrial hydrogen
supply system.
Horizon started commercializing fuel cells four years ago from small and simple products to larger energy
storage solutions. The company is emerging as a world leader in the commercialization of fuel cell integrated
energy solutions and offers a complete range of products and solutions for the consumer, industrial and
transportation markets. Horizon’s new multi-kilowatt systems, which are currently being adopted in various
applications including cellular telecommunication sites, can store significantly more electrical energy than
batteries.
About Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies Pte. Ltd.
Thinking big, yet starting small, Horizon pioneered the sales of next-generation fuel cell power products in
small consumer products, while developing larger-scale clean power solutions for practical applications in
portable power, stationary back-up power and transportation. With comprehensive technological developments
focused on enabling fuel cell commercialization, Horizon is the first company to bring advanced fuel cell
technology out of the laboratories and into the mass market today. For more information, visit
http://www.horizonfuelcell.com.
For media inquiries please contact Jai Ferguson at 425-452-5402 or jferguson@webershandwick.com.
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