The world’s first swappable hydrogen canister station for fuel cell light electric vehicles (LEVs) has been setup in Taiwan by Asia Pacific fuel Cell Technologies (APFCT). The low pressure (145 psi) canisters are being used inside of two hydrogen fuel cell scooters and one microcar.
The scooters and microcar are being used for patrol by university campus security guards. One can also imagine other uses for the setup of a canister exchange station as well, including, corporate campuses, tourist areas that rent scooters and microcars and other places one might find, regular gasoline or electric powered scooters, microcars or city cars.
According to APFCT, “The set-up of the station is very low cost, safe and easy in comparison to the high-pressure hydrogen refueling station. The construction time is also very short. The operation of the station has proved that the technology is ready for commercialization. It also shows the feasibility and suitability of the model on fuel cell LEVs. This is a major step forward on the progress of commercialization of fuel cell LEVs.”
The target market for APFCT is replacing the 40 million scooters that are produced annually on a worldwide scale. The station is for both swapping out canisters and recharging them. This means that owners can have one or more extra full canisters at home that can be either recharged or swapped out as needed.