Abstract
Enhancing performance and further reductions in size and cost are required to facilitate the commercial widespread adoption of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). Toyota Motor Corporation met these challenges by developing the world's first FC stack without a humidifying system. This was achieved by the development of an innovative cell flow field structure and membrane electrode assembly, enabling a power density of 3.1kW/L and 2.0 kW/kg, more than twice that of the conventional stack, and allowing the stack to be installed under the floor in a sedan-type FCV. Major cost reductions were achieved by reducing the amount of platinum in the catalyst by two-thirds and adopting a carbon nano-coating for the separator surface treatment.
