Volvo's £15m fuel cell plans

Volvo has long been known as a car safety pioneer, but now it's vying to become a leader in eco-friendly technology too, as the maker invests in the development of fuel cells.

Within the next three years, Volvo and the Swedish Energy Agency will invest £15.7m and create 100 new jobs as Volvo looks to develop a green technology it sees as the future of clean personal transport. Initially, Volvo will take on 60 new staff at the Gothenburg plant, but more jobs will be created later as the maker seeks to get fuel cell technology to market as quickly as possible.

A fuel cell works by creating electricity from the chemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen, with water the only by-product. If the hydrogen supplied is first of all taken from a hydrocarbon fuel then of course, that means that, unlike lithium ion batteries, fuel cells aren't CO₂ free, but they do emit far less than a petrol or diesel engine would and don't emit any other harmful gasses. They are smaller and lighter than internal combustion engines and the batteries currently powering electric cars too. Volvo has been involved in fuel cell development for the last 15 years.

Volvo's fuel cell technology works in two stages: a 'fuel reformer' has been developed that converts bio-fuels into hydrogen gas, and the fuel cell itself, which converts the hydrogen into electric power. The reformer means that a hydrogen gas transport infrastructure is not needed, so Volvo can get the technology to market very soon, it claims.

Mark Nichol