Proton Motor Fuel Cell expands production seven-fold

Proton Motor Fuel Cell, developer and producer of fuel cells and fuel cell engines, has signed a 15-year lease agreement for a new 13,500sqm production facility near Munich.

The new facility, which will be used by Q2 2023, represents a seven-fold increase in the amount of space available for production when compared to the company’s current premises.

The expansion will supplement the current 6,000sqm site in Puchheim, near Munich, which will now become the development facility for fuel cell stacks and hydrogen fuel cell engines. The facility is located in the town of Fuerstenfeldbruck, 12km from Puchheim headquarters.

The news comes after Torqeedo recently announced a collaboration with Proton Motor to integrate hydrogen fuel cell charging into Torqeedo’s electric boat propulsion systems.

Interest in hydrogen for maritime applications has been increasing rapidly, with hydrogen power seen as an important step to reach shipping’s ambitious goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050.

Dr. Faiz Nahab, Proton Motor‘s chief executive, says: “Hydrogen is the energy storage source of the future and awareness of this is increasing to a considerable extent both amongst the public and within industry. This creates a strong market-pull for associated technologies such as fuel cells. With this background, the additional space provided by the new facility will give Proton Motor the required capacity to produce, test and deliver hydrogen fuel cell engines in line with this anticipated growing demand.”

In anticipation of increased demand, Proton Motor says it intends to increase its annual production capacity to 5,000 hydrogen fuel cell engines and up to 30,000 fuel cell stacks.