The International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE) recently held its 2010 Technical Achievement Awards Conference as part of the 18th World Hydrogen Energy Conference (WHEC18) in Essen, Germany. The R&D of a Fuel Cell Bus (FCB) and related Olympic Demonstration, carried out by Tsinghua’s Department of Automotive Engineering, won the 2010 Technical Achievement Award. In the award ceremony, Mr. Veit Steinle, the German Federal Minister of Transport, chaired the conference and spoke highly of the Tsinghua R&D team and its project leader, Tsinghua Professor Ouyang Minggao.
Supported by the 863 Plan during the tenth- and eleventh-five years plans, the FCB R&D team of Tsinghua has successfully developed 15 FCBs in 4 generations since 2002, and have achieved a series of key advances in FCB technology. The team also built the first vehicular hydrogen production and refilling station, compiled relevant standards and regulations for a hydrogen economy. The winning Fuel Cell + Battery hybrid configuration significantly reduced both the vehicle cost and failure rate, and met the needs for a commercial demonstration vehicle. This helped the team to serve the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games successfully and to successfully complete a one-year public transit demonstration.
