The U.S. Department of Energy named SimpleFuel as the winner of a $1 million H2 Refuel H-Prize Competition.

Launched in October 2014, the H2 Refuel H-Prize Competition challenged U.S. innovators to deploy an on-site hydrogen generation system, using electricity or natural gas, to fuel hydrogen vehicles and that can be used in homes, community centers, small businesses, or similar locations.

Graphic of the on-site hydrogen generation and dispensing appliance.Graphic of the on-site hydrogen generation and dispensing appliance.The SimpleFuel consortium, made up of Ivys Energy Solutions, McPhy Energy North America, and PDC Machines, designed their system to be a safe, small-scale refueling appliance capable of delivering up to 5 kg/day of hydrogen produced via water electrolysis to vehicles at pressures up to 700 bar (10,000 psi).

The SimpleFuel prototype generated and dispensed more than 180 kg of fuel cell-quality hydrogen to power a Hyundai Tucson fuel cell electric vehicle during the three-month test period (enough for more than 10,000 miles of vehicle travel).

The H2 Refuel H-Prize Competition is administered by the Hydrogen Education Foundation and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office.

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