March 2004

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Are there hybrids fuel cell systems in Ballard Power Systems' future? Well, maybe. The subject came up at Ballard's conference call February 17 when management discussed the company's year-end 2003 results. CEO Dennis Campbell, in response to a question, said that Ballard's partners Ford and DaimlerChrysler want to have a "greater degree of involvement in the systems integration part" appropriate "to hybrid electrics and to fuel cell vehicles, the electrical architecture of the future." The carmakers' greater attention to systems integration, said Campbell, is "really driven by hybrid electrics and the emergence of this technology." He added, "a year or two ago hybrids were viewed as a technological curiosity, and most people didn't give them much of a chance of being viable beyond a few demonstration attempts." But now, "it's becoming apparent that the automakers are probably going to have to play in that space." The hybrid electric architecture "is essentially identical to the architecture of a fuel cell vehicle," added Campbell. "It's two tracks" - piston engine hybrid is one and fuel cell architecture is the other: "What we're doing within our alliance is looking at ways to redefine some roles and responsibilities so that we don't have two separate tracks for this architecture, but in fact combine the efforts for the synergies and advantages of doing that."