Swedish cells

The Swedish Energy Agency and Volvo are investing SEK200m (£15.7m) in the development of fuel cells, a move that will create roughly 100 jobs in the Gothenburg region over the next three years.

To accelerate the introduction of fuel cells into the market, the Volvo Group, through Volvo Technology Transfer, will receive investment from Midroc New Technology and OCAS, as well as from the Swedish Energy Agency.

The parties will make a joint investment of SEK200m in Gothenburg-based Powercell Sweden, which is currently owned by Volvo Technology Transfer.

Following the investment, Volvo will be a minority owner.

Powercell Sweden is founded on two patented components: a fuel converter (reformer) and a PEM fuel cell, which is the type of fuel cell most often used in transport applications.

The fuel converter produces hydrogen gas from bio-fuels such as ethanol, DME (Dimethyl ether), biogas, methanol and biodiesel, and also from regular diesel or petrol.

The PEM fuel cell then converts the hydrogen gas into electricity.

‘Thanks to our reformer technology we are now ready to start our production without having to wait for an infrastructure for the distribution of hydrogen gas,’ said Per Wassén, investment director at Volvo Technology Transfer and chairman of Powercell Sweden.

‘This is truly a major step in the development of fuel cells.’