Matsushita, Ebara demonstrate longerlasting fuel cells for home use
Osaka-based Matsushita Electric Industrial and Ebara Corporation in Tokyo have separately developed fuel cell stacks that can operate for longer than 10 000 h, bringing closer their use for producing electricity and hot water in residential applications. Although fuel cell systems developed for emergency or backup power applications are already available, at present they generally only last for around 1500 h. With their new long-lasting technologies, both companies intend to commercialize residential fuel cell systems that can operate for three years before any parts need replacing, according to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
Ebara and Matsushita are both developing fuel cell systems that provide around 1 kW of electric power, which is considered to meet the basic power demands of a single-family home in Japan. Their fuel cell systems are designed to extract hydrogen from natural gas; both companies plan to market their products via gas companies. Tokyo Gas will begin sales in the greater Tokyo area in the first quarter of 2005, and Osaka Gas plans to begin sales by March 2006.
At first these fuel cell systems will cost more than ยฅ3m (US$28 000) to manufacture (about 10 times the price of a standard gas-fired water heater), but sales are expected to be supported through government subsidies and various discounts from the companies. The Japanese environment ministry plans to cover one-third of the cost of introducing residential fuel cell systems starting in fiscal 2004, with the subsidies handled by local municipalities. The gas companies selling the systems are apparently considering discounts on their gas fees, as they see an opportunity to win customers back from the electric power companies. The goal is to eventually lower the price to around ยฅ500 000