A team from Intelligent Energy, made up of a former Loughborough University lecturer, have reached the forefront of breakthrough eco-energy technology, with their ingenuity in developing fuel cells.
Loughborough University's Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering was the original meeting place for four academics that created a university research group for electro-chemical innovation back in 1995. Today, they are reaping the commercial benefits of their research, having jumped the divide from academia to private industry.
These four are Tony Newbold, Dr Paul Adcock (former lecturer and today Director of Research and Technology at Intelligent Energy), Dr Jon Moore (now Director of Communications at IE), and electro-chemist Dr Phil Mitchell (IE's Chief Technology Officer). Their work on the technology of clean energy, using patented fuel cell technology, has achieved the industry leading power density performance of continuous volumetric and gravimetric power densities.
Managing Director, James Batchelor commented: “Importantly, we deliver these benchmark performance levels for high volume, low-cost manufacturing." For example, Intelligent Energy and PSA Peugeot Citroën developed a 10 kWe (electrical power) engine for a new all-electric delivery van with an engine compact enough to fit under the bonnet of a normal small van and can start and operate from temperatures as low as -20°C.
Like batteries, fuel cells are electrochemical devices, but do not need recharging as long as they have fuel – in this case, hydrogen. Hydrogen is a clean energy source because it has zero emissions. To increase power, the fuel cells are simply stacked together like a sandwich and, when combined with the correct technology, the fuel cell power system is a clean and complete power source.
With over eight hundred million vehicles on the road, it is vital to reduce emissions in the near future. The US Department of Energy found that fuel cell electric vehicles were twice as efficient as today's petrol powered vehicles. Intelligent Energy has also developed the world's first hydrogen fuel-celled motorbike and spearheaded the consortium, which brought fuel cell electric black taxis to London. The project team believes the fleet of fuel cell vehicles worldwide will grow from a few hundred now (worth about $45 million) to around two million by 2020 and around 25 million by 2030.
While its headquarters remain based at the Loughborough Innovation Centre, just a couple of miles from Loughborough University, Intelligent Energy is now a global entity, with current partners and customers including Boeing, Peugeot Citroën, and Suzuki. The Innovation Centre itself is a point of contact and stepping stone for many Loughborough alumni to profitable business enterprise.
On the model of the original Silicone Valley start-up factory premises, aspiring young graduates are enabled with a fully functioning office to realise their ideas and research in the real world, with such successful examples as Intelligent Energy on the same site.
Dr Jon Moore, IE’s Director of Communications, says: “It is an excellent incubator for a wide variety of businesses and has helped our company to develop. Our links to the University are also very important to us and we are proud of our Loughborough roots."
