Auburn Hills-based automotive equipment supplier Faurecia has signed a five-year agreement with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) to collaborate in a research and development project of fuel cell stack technologies. Faurecia will benefit from more than two decades of CEA research and expertise in fuel cell stacks and key components, including bipolar plates.
Combined with Faurecia’s data on fluid dynamics and catalysis, both companies will be able to develop, mass-produce, and commercialize a high-performance fuel cell stack to meet auto industry expectations. Faurecia has also recently completed an agreement with Stelia Aerospace Composites and has invested in Ad-Venta for the development of high-pressure hydrogen tanks and compact valves.
“Our partnership with the CEA marks an important new step in Faurecia’s strategy to develop a reliable offer for fuel cell technologies,” says Patrick Koller, CEO of Faurecia. “We are convinced that this technology, which offers large autonomy and fast refueling times, will coexist with battery electric vehicles. It is, especially for commercial vehicles, an effective alternative. In addition, hydrogen production is an efficient way to store green electricity.”
Founded in 1997, Faurecia currently operates 330 sites including 30 research and development centers and employs 100,000 people in 34 countries.
