Burnaby’s Ballard Power Systems has inked a long-term engineering service contract with the Volkswagen Group in Germany.
The agreement, which has an expected value of $60-100 million, relates to the development of fuel cells to be used in Volkswagen HyMotion demonstration cars as part of its fuel cell automotive research program.
Volkswagen AG head of group research Dr. Juergen Leohold said the deal reinforces the car company’s commitment to developing clean-energy fuel cell transportation alternatives.
“I anticipate accelerating our automotive fuel cell program as a result of this collaborative effort, which will bring together additional fuel cell skills and expertise in both organizations,’ Leohold said.
Ballard president and CEO John Sheridan said, “Ballard’s focus with Volkswagen in this new automotive fuel cell research program will parallel our continuing work in commercial fuel cell markets for backup power and material handling – enhancing product durability and performance while radically reducing product costs.”
The contract has a term of four years with an option for a two-year extension.
