The exhibition opened its gates this morning to the general public, and Arno Evers, the organiser of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Group Exhibit welcomed the over 110 exhibitors from around the world. This year marks a special occasion for the event, since it is taking place for the 10th time; a long way from its humble beginnings in 1995 when the group exhibit attracted only 10 exhibitors. Maybe we can take the conclusion, that this significant rise in exhibitor numbers and an increased interest from the general public will see the fuel cell technology widely succeed in a couple of years.

During the official start and a press conference of the exhibition, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visited the Group Exhibit and had a chance to ride a fuel cell powered fork lift truck, developed by Proton Motor, Still and Linde (Hall 13, booth D46-4). The vehicle uses the fuel cell as a replacement for conventional battery power. The 18KW PEM fuel cell is fuelled by compressed hydrogen, which is stored on-board at 350bar (tank 2 x 40litres)

On the booth of AirLiquide's subsidiary Axane Fuel Cell Systems, (Hall 13, booth E38-1) visitors have the chance to see the company's latest product, the "MobiAxane", a 2.5kW small stationary/portable PEM fuel cell unit. The product is basically a much more advanced version of last year's presented RollerPac. MobiAxane is only about half the size and weight of the previous model and the company has plans to sell the approx. 5-10 units this year and a further 30-50 the year after. The price will be Euro 20,000; nice to see more and more manufacturers actually putting price tags on their products.

Meanwhile, in exhibition hall 18 (Booth J6), German car manufacturer Audi, part of the Volkswagen group, is displaying its fuel cell powered Audi A2 (we reported earlier last week). The car is powered by a 70kW Ballard PEM fuel cell and equipped with a Dynetek gaseous hydrogen storage tank. Even though the Volkswagen group has been quite reserved with its announcements in the fuel cell sector previously, now it seems the company is trying to catch up, displaying also a fuel cell APU in a people carrier three weeks ago. So far, Audi has no detailed plans for large-scale demonstration projects; the company believes that a very small fleet will bring the same results.

Back in hall 13 on the hydrogen and fuel cell group exhibit, QuestAir (Booth E57/6) showcases its latest development in hydrogen purification systems. The H-3200 is much more compact then comparable units and comes at a reasonable price as well (around US$100,000).

German Masterflex AG, who has presented a fuel cell powered mobile office system last year during the Hannover fair, is displaying a fuel cell powered bike this year. A 250W PEM fuel cell, developed by Masterflex, a metal hydride storage tank (45grams of hydrogen) and an integrated electric motor allow a driving range of 120km. Eventually, the company would like to commercialise the bike, and the advanced fuel cell/metal hydride technology, which allows a up to five times higher operating time then competing electric bicycles, should definitely help.

On the booth of the Fuel Cell Test and Evaluation Center – FCTec (D58-2), visitors had another chance to take a closer look at the fuel cell powered Segway, which the organisation already displayed during the 2003 Fuel Cell Seminar in Miami Beach in November.

On a general note, we have noticed that the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Group Exhibit is taking much more space in hall 13 this year, which it shares with other exhibitors of renewable energy products and services; whether this is an indication of a declining interest in wind- solar and thermal-power or an increasing interest in fuel cells is hard to say.

Generally speaking, after talking to representatives of various organisations and following the forum programme during the first day, this years show seems to attract a much more professional audience and members of the general public which are very well informed about the advantages and problems of the fuel cell technology. It seems that large-scale demonstration projects here in Germany, e.g. the participation of the cities of Hamburg and Stuttgart in the CUTE bus project and the stationary fuel cell programmes of MTU, Sulzer Hexis, Vaillant and Viessmann, definitely help to raise awareness.

That’s it for the first day, we will continue tomorrow morning since there are many more interesting displays to report on.