Ballard Secures Million Dollar Orders from Volkswagen,
Volvo, Matsushita
Ballard Power Systems (Vancouver, B.C., Canada)
announced in September that it had secured contracts totaling C$1.2 million
(US$850,000) from Volkswagen AG and AB Volvo for the supply of Ballard Fuel
Cells, test equipment, and related support services. In October, Ballard
announced that it also had secured a contract totaling C$340,000 (US$250,000)
from Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. for the supply of its proton exchange
membrane fuel cells.
The fuel cells will be used by Volkswagen and
Volvo in their joint research and development program to develop fuel-cell-powered
passenger and commercial vehicles. The fuel cells will be used by Matsushita
for the development of portable power systems. Matsushita, a world leader
in electrical equipment, is working on portable power sources for leisure
use and emergency power supplies.
These contracts represent the increasing interest
in Ballard Fuel Cells for transportation applications said Firoz Rasul,
President and Chief Executive Officer at Ballard. “We welcome Volkswagen
and Volvo, both internationally renown companies, as new customers and look
forward to what we expect will be a long and beneficial relationship between
our companies.”
“We are excited to be working with Matsushita
on portable power applications of the Ballard fuel cell,” said Rasul.
“The Ballard Fuel Cell is particularly suitable for portable uses as
it produces electricity efficiently, cleanly, and quietly.”
“Fuel cells offer a highly interesting
way to power automobiles in the future,” said Dr. Friedrich Quissek,
Research Director of Volkswagen. “We are very pleased to begin working
with Ballard.”
Lars-Göran Rosengren, Research Director
of Volvo, stated, “Fuel cells offer the promise of powering clean,
efficient vehicles which have the range and passenger capacity of today’s
internal combustion engine power models.”
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