In honor of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) and the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) are announcing plans to collaborate on jointly funded projects to advance progress in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

This announcement follows a workshop held by DOE in January that led to successful outcomes identifying critical needs for tactical hydrogen infrastructure in remote areas. The workshop was immediately followed by an evaluation of a military fuel cell-powered vehicle developed by General Motors and sponsored by Army TARDEC. This vehicle’s concept marries fuel cell technology and its advantages of on-board water production, exportable electric power, and near silent operation with extreme off-road capability. TARDEC is also working with DOE on its Hydrogen at Scale (H2@Scale) initiative aimed at research toward large-scale use of hydrogen across sectors and applications. These new collaborations will advance the state-of-the-art in novel hydrogen infrastructure, fuel cell vehicles, and quiet-portable stationary power technologies.

Army TARDEC and DOE FCTO will work together to analyze performance data to guide future early-stage research and development and will specifically evaluate technical performance parameters for medium- and heavy-duty fuel cell vehicle applications.

DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) supports early-stage research and development of energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, renewable energy technologies that make energy more affordable and strengthen the reliability, resilience, and security of the U.S. electric grid. The Fuel Cell Technologies Office contributes to EERE’s mission by working with industry, academia, and national laboratory partners on a balanced portfolio of research in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.