Vehicle Development and Demonstration

The role of the Fuelcell Propulsion Institute is to plan projects to develop and demonstrate vehicles with high commercialization potential. This is accomplished by forming an Industry Committee comprised of the major players of industries seeking commercialization of fuelcell vehicles as industrial machines. An industry committee proposes a vehicle development and demonstration project that will satisfy the needs of the particular industry that it represents by solving health and safety problems or being more productive than existing technologies.

The funding, organization, and execution of projects proposed by an industry committee are delegated to the joint-venture partner, Vehicle Projects LLC. The Institute then joins the project as a project partner to assure that the needs of industry are met. Vehicle development and demonstration projects involve additional technical partners, typically about ten in number.

 

Division of Labor

Fuelcell Propulsion Institute
  • Recommendation of projects and contractors
  • Advising of projects
  • Stakeholder education
Vehicle Projects LLC
  • Project conception and organization
  • Funding appropriations
  • International consortium management

 

Resulting Projects

The joint venture between the Fuelcell Propulsion Institute and Vehicle Projects LLC has resulted in the following major vehicle development and demonstration projects:

Completed Project
  • Mine Locomotive Project, which developed the world’s first fuelcell-powered locomotive, a 4-Ton mining and tunneling haulage vehicle for metal mining.
Current Projects
Pending Project
  • 10-ton locomotive for metal mining.

 

Benefits of the Relationship between the Institute and Vehicle Projects LLC

Four enabling benefits derive from the joint-venture relationship between the Fuelcell Propulsion Institute and Vehicle Projects LLC:

  1. Lobbying – Whereas the Institute does not lobby the federal government because national laboratories are dues-paying members, Vehicle Projects does lobby, and its work is essential to the funding of these large projects. Moreover, because Vehicle Projects is prime contractor, no earmarked funds pass to national-lab project partners via the Institute, to which they paid dues.

  2. Membership of Federal Funders – If the Institute were prime contractor and received funds from federal funding agencies, those agencies would face a conflict of interest if they were also dues-paying, voting members. Vehicle Projects as prime contractor allows federal funders to become full-fledged members of the Fuelcell Propulsion Institute.

  3. Proprietary Information – The ultimate objective of a nonprofit is to serve the public at large, and restricting information from some institutions, in particular, members of the Institute, requires justification. Vehicle Projects LLC as prime contractor is not inhibited in preserving proprietary information, and commercial partners are comfortable with this capability.

  4. Management Effectiveness – Democracy is inherent to the nature of nonprofits. This is a strength of the Fuelcell Propulsion Institute in executing its mission. However, fast-paced, advanced-vehicle development projects require a decisiveness and assertiveness that is more naturally achieved by a limited liability company. Accordingly, Vehicle Projects is a more effective project manager than a nonprofit.

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