Fuel cell companies looking for greater sales volume
26 October 2005 by Hydrogen PowerAt an industry conference Monday of various fuel cell company executives, those in attendance stated that high volume sales were needed to bring the price of fuel cells down. OK. Got that. The problem is fuel cells are still not cost competitve long term at the present state of their technology. A business purchasing fuel cells would either be making some kind of environmental or political statement by doing so or would need some form of subsidy to make it worth while. These executives seem to be saying it’s the customers’ fault.
Any new technology, such as fuel cells and hydrogen power in general, has an infancy period when costs are high and promised payback can be a long way off. When the current technology is still the more cost effective choice, it is up to the new technology companies to drive down their own costs or do a real sales job to motivate the switch. Work is being done across the board in all areas, and as I stated before, there is no guarantee hydrogen will win this competition. My advice to those executives, keep working.
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