The project’s proposition and charter is to advance (MRL4 > MRL6) the critical steps of the PEM fuel cell assembly processes and associated in-line QC & end-of-line test / handover strategies and to demonstrate a route to automated volume process production capability within an automotive best practice context e.g. cycle time optimization and line-balancing, cost reduction and embedded / digitized quality control. The project will include characterization and digital codification of physical attributes of key materials (e.g. GDLs) to establish yield impacting digital cause and effects relationships within the value chain, from raw material supply / conversion / assembly through to in-service data analytics, aligning with evolving Industry 4.0 standards for data gathering / security, and line up-time, productivity monitoring. The expected outcome will be a blueprint for beyond current state automotive PEM fuel cell manufacturing capability in Europe. The project will exploit existing EU fuel cell and manufacturing competences and skill sets to enhance EU employment opportunities and competitiveness while supporting CO2 reduction and emissions reduction targets across the transport low emission vehicle sector with increased security of fuel supply (by utilizing locally produced Hydrogen).

ID-FAST aims at supporting and promoting the deployment of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) technologies for automotive applications through the development of Accelerated Stress Tests (AST) together with a methodology allowing durability prediction, thus accelerating the introduction of innovative materials in next generation designs. The project is founded and focused on two main points: degradation mechanisms understanding and durability prediction improvement via the development and validation of specific ASTs and associated transfer functions. Degradation investigations will be based on consolidated data (objects with known history and ageing data) from both real systems tested in cars and ID-FAST test program to ensure relevant analysis of failure modes and performance losses together with a mean to validate the developed methodology. Investigation of stressors impact on components degradation and performance losses will give access to the accelerating factor for each single mechanism AST. Thanks to the expertise of partners, understanding will be ensured by advanced ex-situ and in-situ characterisations to identify and quantify components degradation phenomena, and by modelling and multi-scale simulation tools to investigate the impact of various stressors and to relate causes to performance losses. Combined AST protocols will be developed and validated with regard to their capability to actually reduce testing time and their relevance assessed by correlation to real world ageing. The methodology developed will allow prediction of stack lifetime and thus will be valuable for the whole automotive fuel cell community. To achieve its objectives, ID-FAST will benefit from the strong expertise of 8 partners (4 research centres, 1 university, 1 SME and 2 large companies) all along the value chain, and from an Advisory Group gathering industrial companies from components manufacturers to end-users, as well as recognised laboratories from USA and Japan.

GAIA has the overall aim of developing high power and high current density automotive MEAs well beyond the current state of the art up to TRL5. This project, encompassing OEMs, leading industrial and academic/research organisation/research institute partners with long expertise in fuel cell science and technology, and building on best developments from the FCHJU, will not only provide significantly higher performance MEAs but will also ensure the designs satisfy the cost, durability and operational targets set by the call. Accordingly, the specific objectives of the project are to: - Develop world-leading components (electrocatalysts, membranes, gas diffusion and microporous layers) and improve the interfaces between them to minimise resistances; - Realise the potential of these components in next generation MEAs showing a step-change in performance that will largely surpass the state of the art by delivering a beginning of life power density of 1.8 W/cm2 at 0.6 V; - Validate the MEA performance and durability in full size cell short stacks, with durability tests of 1000 h with extrapolation to 6,000 h; - Provide a cost assessment study that demonstrates that the MEAs can achieve the cost target of 6 €/kW for an annual production rate of 1 million square metres.