The Canadian Fuel Cell Commercialization Roadmap

The Canadian Fuel Cell Commercialization Roadmap identifies critical factors for the industry to bring technologies to market and provide strategic planning tools for industry, academia, and governments.

For companies, this Roadmap is a tool to identify gaps between the current capabilities and future requirements, and to guide investment decisions to close this gap. For research organizations and educational institutions, this Roadmap will provide guidance for structuring future programs. For governments, this Roadmap provides a strategic direction for industrial development activities.

The industry-led Roadmap is the result of the collaborative work of over 45 organizations across the fuel cell sector, spearheaded by Industry Canada and Fuel Cells Canada and facilitiated by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

The Roadmap identifies four key steps to be taken for the Canadian industry to realize the major potential economic and environmental benefits of fuel cells, and to maintain Canada's leadership position in this emerging sector.

Step One: Stimulating early market demand
Higher production costs pose a prohibitive barrier to potential purchasers. Early demand stimulates increased production volumes and brings down costs. Challenges lie in gaining deeper understanding of market needs and creating market awareness.

Step Two: Improving product quality while reducing costs
There is significant need for continuing investment in fundamental and applied research and development in the fuel cell and hydrogen sectors. Fuel cell technology competes with widely accepted and constantly improving incumbent technologies. Challenges lie in continuing the improvement of fuel cell product quality in terms of reliability and durability, as well as in reducing product costs and developing a coordinated supply chain for fuel cell power systems.

Step Three: Financing
The fuel cell industry faces the challenge of increasing the scale and scope of operations, and gaining access to scarce private capital needed to support such growth, while still in the pre-revenue stage.

Step Four: Creating a support infrastructure
The support infrastructure is necessary to allow the safe introduction of fuel cell applications, to promote interconnectivity and to develop a fuelling infrastructure. Presently, hurdles exist in obtaining skilled resources, developing fuelling infrastructure, and developing codes and standards.

Please download the Canadian Fuel Cell Commercialization Roadmap — Executive Summary for more information on industry challenges and opportunities, the future of fuel cell commercialization in Canada, and the Roadmap working group's actions and recommendations to ensure Canadian fuel cell success.

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To find out how you can get a complete copy of the Canadian Fuel Cell Commercialization Roadmap, please contact Industry Canada.

This publication is also available electronically on the World Wide Web at the following address: strategis.ic.gc.ca/electrical.

To obtain additional information about the Canadian Fuel Cell Commercialization Roadmap, please contact: