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SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG, SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG, technology and market leader for mobile and off-grid power solutions based on fuel cells, has secured an order for the supply of more than 130 EFOY Pro in 2009 from the Mercedes Benz Cologne/Leverkusen branch of Daimler AG.
Daimler AG will be using the EFOY Pro 1600 systems to provide an onboard power supply for professionally used vehicles. Most of the systems will be retrofitted to existing official Mercedes Benz Sprinter vans. Others will be fitted in new Sprinters.
Dr. Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Smart Fuel Cell had this to say;
This order confirms SFC’s market leading position for onboard fuel cell power supply of special-purpose vehicles.Especially for professional users there is great demand for reliable long-term energy supply far from the grid. In this field we see one of the core growth areas for our company.
These special-purpose vehicles, fitted with fuel cells, are to be used by officials non-stop for eight or more hours as a mobile office, to access important data. Therefore the vehicles need to support a high level of equipment functionality. Until now, it has been extremely problematic to provide a reliable power source for the equipment in these special-purpose vehicles with no access to an electrical outlet. The vehicles are often far from the grid, the engine cannot be kept running to provide the power as it is too costly and bad for the environment, and generators are out of the question for hours of use, as the noise and exhaust fumes are a strain on the vehicle occupants. The onboard EFOY Pro fuel cell solves this problem in an eco-friendly manner: it charges the batteries automatically, silently and without producing any emissions. This means there is no need to recharge from the grid or at the depot and the vehicles can be used flexibly, with no need to make special trips to the depot to recharge the batteries.
This repeat order for SFC to equip special-purpose vehicles means that by the end of the year, almost 400 official vehicles will be on German roads using EFOY fuel cells. The cartridges for this application will be sold at the sales points run by a large distributor, ensuring that there is blanket coverage. In Europe, the EFOY cartridges are already available at more than 1,200 sales points.
The EFOY Pro 1600 is in SFC’s EFOY fuel cell range. SFC’s fuel cells are coming into increasing use for recreation, industry, mobility and defense, wherever there is a need for reliable, convenient and eco-friendly power supply independently of the grid. The company has already sold over 14,000 EFOY fuel cells to international industrials and consumers.
About SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG
SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG (www.sfc.com) is market leader in fuel cell technologies for mobile and off-grid power applications serving the leisure, industrial and defense markets. As one of Germany’s technology pioneers, SFC has won numerous innovation awards. SFC has alliances with leading companies in a wide range of industries. Unlike most other fuel cell manufacturers, who are in the research and development phase or run subsidized demonstration projects, SFC has shipped more than 14,000 fully commercial products to industrial and private end users for more than five years, and has created a convenient fuel cartridge supply infrastructure. SFC is DIN ISO 9001:2000 certified. SFC is based in Brunnthal, Germany, and has a U.S. sales and technical service office in Atlanta
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