40:
427:. After some difficulties in developing a stack of the required 2 kW size using their then-current" Mark IV" cell design, the system was successfully installed and became one of the first commercial fuel cell system since the 1960s. An upgrade to the "Mark V" cell design dramatically improved performance, providing 4.1 kW from a stack the same size as the original 2 kW model. A contract with the
416:$ 500,000 contract, which called for them to provide three prototype cells that produced between 50 and 150 watts and be ready in 28 months. After meeting the requirements, they won a follow-up contract, and it was during this project, in 1986, when they reached a milestone of producing four times as much energy per unit volume as any previous fuel cell.
492:. He received the World Technology Network Award in Energy in 1999, and in Environment in 2000. He also received the Gutenberg International Environment prize in Sweden in 2000. He served as chair of the Canadian Hydrogen Association and as an advisory board member for the Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California.
333:
was able to synthesize. Working in a trailer, Ballard and
Schwartz built a simple battery and Prater brought a sample of the lithium dithionite, and when they were placed together and charged, a weak current was produced. After further development the system was able to be recharged about a dozen times.
434:
Development from these engineering samples to real-world products was going to be long and expensive. Although the battery line continued to do well, the profits it generated were not enough to run the company as a whole. Ballard started looking for new capital, and found Mike Brown, a founder of the
415:
in New Mexico, where limited PEM research was still being carried out. He managed to gather a small number of parts from test cells that would provide an early start. Meanwhile, Ballard sent teams to Ottawa to better understand the contract. Armed with this information from both sources, they won the
463:
Taking the technology from laboratory to the road proved very difficult, and after years of development and many rounds of additional funding, Ballard left active management in 1998. The automotive power division was sold to
Daimler-Chrysler and Ford in 2008 for $ 96.6 million, and Daimler currently
443:
The company was re-organized, spinning off the battery side to BTC Engineering, while the fuel cell side became
Ballard Technologies Corp. Feeling the technology was ready for commercial use, in 1989 Ballard raised $ 4 million in public money from the British Columbia government to build a fuel cell
439:
company. Ventures West provided several rounds of funding, and Brown suggested that if the company wanted to be successful it was going to need new leadership who was familiar with dealing with large companies. Although the founders found it difficult to accept a stranger into their midst, they were
348:
By 1977 the batteries were coming along, and
Ballard and Prater were shuttling back and forth between Arizona and Vancouver. Ballard had always wanted to return to Canada, so Schwartz sold his interest in the battery technology to Ballard for $ 1, while Ballard sold his interest in Schwartz's latest
332:
chemistry department, and sold him on the idea of developing a new rechargeable lithium battery technology with them. Prater was able to quickly determine that no one knew what the product of the lithium-salt reactions in existing batteries were, and guessed that it was lithium dithionite, which he
390:
While the single-use design was successful, the rechargeable version never matured. In 1983, Ballard, Prater and Paul Howard started looking for new ideas for their development side to work on as the funds for the battery project dried up. Among a variety of ideas were a number of attempts to find
303:
He quickly grew disillusioned with the political system. "Energy systems are notorious for their long gestation periods, often twenty years or longer, there had to be a pay-off in a product within five to seven years in order to justify the public money being put in. There are political cycles
356:
In Canada, Ultra Energy operated out of the same hangar where Horton was re-fitting his submarine. By the mid-1970s the refit was complete, with no battery in site, and Horton dropped his support for the battery project. After obtaining some private bridge financing, they won a contract for a
377:
The main Ultra Energy team immediately re-formed as
Ballard Research, taking over offices directly across the street from the Ultra ones. Ballard started calling old contacts in the oil industry, looking for companies that might be interested in diversifying their energy holdings. Shell was
324:
in place of lead-acid, as they would be much lighter. However, at the time, lithium batteries were not able to be recharged. Schwartz convinced
Ballard that they should study the problem, and Ballard cashed in his pension to buy a portion of their new joint venture, American Energizer.
344:
for oil exploration, and
Ballard convinced him that their new battery would be a perfect fit. Horton agreed to provide several thousand dollars a month in funding. With this in place, Ballard purchased an abandoned motel in Arizona for $ 2,000 and set about turning it into a lab.
271:
and travelled around the world on exploration trips. During these trips his advice was often ignored as he was "only" a BSc (difficult enough in 1950s), and after several such incidents he decided to leave industry and pursue a doctorate in earth and planetary sciences from
304:
involving re-election, so the politicians didn't want to put money into systems that were going to come to fruition in some other generation. You sent out the plans, and they hacked and cut at them." When the contract ran out, he decided to quit and strike out on his own.
299:
hit. The U.S. government responded by establishing the U.S. Federal Energy
Conservation Research office, and started looking for someone to run it. Given his background running projects, the Army seconded him to become the office's director, initially for six months.
312:
One of the studies he had been involved in at the
Conservation Research office was on electric cars powered by conventional lead-acid batteries. None of these struck him as practical, but he was convinced that electric traction was the future. He told
319:
magazine in a 2002 interview that "My goal from the very beginning was replacing the internal combustion engine -- just getting that off the streets." Ballard had earlier met Ralph
Schwartz in Arizona, who introduced him to the idea of using
410:
At the time, no one in the company had any direct experience with fuel cells, and Ballard himself reputedly asked "What's a fuel cell?" when the topic was first brought up. Prater, with an extensive electrochemical background, flew to the
391:
government funding, which eventually led them to a Department of National Defense (DND) request for proposals for bids to produce a low-cost solid polymer fuel cell. Now known as PEM's, these cells had only been used commercially in
512:. The forces are building and progress is being made. It is of major importance that a change of this magnitude not be forced on unwilling participants, but that all of us work together for an economically viable path to change.
382:
decided to take over the rechargeable side of the company, and paid off most of the company's local debts. Now solvent, the company quickly started looking for applications for their technology, and won contracts with the
472:
After leaving full-time management at Ballard Power Systems, in 2000 Ballard formed General Hydrogen, which worked on the problems of generating and distributing hydrogen. In 2007, the company was sold to
336:
With the technology looking like it could be made into a commercial enterprise, Ballard contacted an acquaintance, John Horton, to provide further backing. Horton was in the process of re-fitting the
464:
operates a small number of fuel cell busses in Hamburg, United States, Japan and Singapore. Ballard Power Systems continues its work on PEMFC's for stationary power use and backup systems.
431:
soon followed, and although the resulting cells were not used as the Royal Navy decided to go all-nuclear, a research contract allowed the company to continue improving the cells.
460:
in 1999 that the fuel-cell cars should become economical by 2010 and "the internal combustion engine will go the way of the horse. It will be a curiosity to my grandchildren."
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eventually won over and Firoz Rasul became the new CEO. Rasul immediately instituted a development plan with a timeline of goals that had to be met and go/no-go milestones.
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to further develop their single-use long-life battery. This led to a successful production line producing thousands of cells for the U.S. and Canadian militaries.
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263:, studying geological engineering. Here he met his future wife, Shelagh, and they married and graduated the same year, in 1956. Ballard secured a position at
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interested and kept the company afloat for a time, but dropped their interest when one of the minority shareholders held out. In mid-1981,
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407:. Although a number of attempts had been made to lower the high cost of PEM cells since then, none had been commercially successful.
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It will take a combined effort of academia, government, and industry to bring about the change from a gasoline economy to a
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244:, so Archibald Ballard was promoted to lab director at a relatively young age in his mid-40s. He spent most of
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system for the same $ 1. In 1979 Ballard moved to Vancouver and became president and CEO of Ultra Energy.
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invested $ 750 million to buy a one-third stake in the newly public Ballard Power Systems. Ballard told
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company, Firenetics. After about a year the battery was ready and production was going to be started in
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when the lab director fell overboard from a boat during a party and was washed over
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and a few other space probes, and General Electric gave up on the technology when
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Innovation, "Preparing Ballard for Commercialization of its Fuel Cell Technology"
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as "Hero of the Planet". In 2002 he was named "Business Leader of the Year" by
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Powering the Future: The Ballard Fuel Cell and the Race to Change the World
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545:"Geoffrey Ballard, founder of fuel-cell firm Ballard Power Systems, dies"
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non-rechargeable lithium battery with a shelf life of 10 years for the
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in Alberta, leading exploration teams on horseback. He left Shell for
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After earning his PhD in 1963, Ballard worked as a civilian for the
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and later specialized in the area of radiation. He was working at
631:"Obituaries: Geoffrey Ballard, 76; Developed Hydrogen Fuel Cells"
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569:"Geoffrey Ballard: In a Hurry to Prove the 'Pistonheads' Wrong"
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in 1993. He took the bus to energy fairs around the world, and
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Schwartz and Ballard were introduced to Keith Prater at the
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232:. His father studied electrochemical engineering at the
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and businessman. A longtime advocate of replacing the
738:
Fuel Cell Pioneer: An Interview with Geoffrey Ballard
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After high school in Niagara Falls, Ballard attended
198:(PEM). Acknowledged worldwide as the father of the
517:Geoffrey Ballard, World Hydrogen Energy Conference
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495:He died of complications from liver disease at
190:, in 1979 Ballard founded what would become
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208:named him a "Hero for the Planet" in 1999.
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194:to develop commercial applications of the
126: 1956–2008)
828:Washington University in St. Louis alumni
813:Members of the Order of British Columbia
779:, Government of Canada, 15 February 2005
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179:(16 October 1932 – 2 August 2008) was a
399:moved onto other fuel cell designs for
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423:to provide fuel cells for their small
287:. Ballard was working for the Army at
220:, to Jessie Marguerite Mildred of the
833:Queen's University at Kingston alumni
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709:Innovation, "Improving the Mousetrap"
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16:Canadian geophysicist and businessman
808:Businesspeople from British Columbia
419:In 1987 Ballard won a contract with
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602:"Alumni Profile - Geoffrey Ballard"
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823:People from Niagara Falls, Ontario
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274:Washington University in St. Louis
196:proton exchange membrane fuel cell
102:Washington University in St. Louis
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19:For those of a similar name, see
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777:"Case 2. Ballard Power Systems"
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818:Members of the Order of Canada
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435:Vancouver-based Ventures West
413:Los Alamos National Laboratory
369:. Ultra Energy was insolvent.
252:, working on the atomic bomb.
228:and Archibald Hall Ballard of
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21:Jeff Ballard (disambiguation)
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803:Businesspeople from Ontario
169:Geoffrey Edwin Hall Ballard
51:Geoffrey Edwin Hall Ballard
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188:internal combustion engine
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718:Innovation, "The Miracle"
543:Canadian Press newswire,
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151:Jessie Marguerite Mildred
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480:In 1999 he was named by
212:Early life and education
637:, 7 August 2008, p. B05
547:, CBC.ca, 6 August 2008
238:Carborundum Corporation
230:Staten Island, New York
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349:venture, a mechanical
218:Niagara Falls, Ontario
149:Archibald Hall Ballard
113:Shelagh Ballard (1932)
65:Niagara Falls, Ontario
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373:Ballard Power Systems
234:University of Toronto
192:Ballard Power Systems
499:in North Vancouver.
421:Perry Oceanographics
338:Ben Franklin (PX-15)
250:Oak Ridge, Tennessee
216:Ballard was born in
775:Innovation Canada,
743:Scientific American
629:Patricia Sullivan,
608:on 10 February 2006
497:Lions Gate Hospital
489:Scientific American
330:University of Texas
746:, 18 November 2002
565:Hornblower, Margot
477:for $ 10 million.
308:American Energizer
295:in 1973 when the
257:Queen's University
838:ExxonMobil people
581:on 15 April 2009.
351:anti-lock braking
322:lithium batteries
261:Kingston, Ontario
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577:. Archived from
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450:Daimler-Chrysler
367:General Electric
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610:. Retrieved
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77:(2008-08-02)
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798:2008 deaths
793:1932 births
139:Mark (1959)
787:Categories
523:References
475:Plug Power
429:Royal Navy
297:oil crisis
224:family in
222:Rowntree's
202:industry,
57:1932-10-16
503:Quotation
363:Hong Kong
285:Greenland
281:U.S. Army
269:Mobil Oil
265:Shell Oil
200:fuel cell
146:Parent(s)
94:Education
612:27 March
515:—
403:and the
316:Discover
181:Canadian
134:Children
293:Arizona
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116:
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162:(2004)
156:Awards
108:Spouse
528:Notes
380:Amoco
122:(
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767:ISBN
614:2009
574:Time
483:Time
458:Time
454:Ford
452:and
397:NASA
226:York
205:Time
72:Died
47:Born
340:in
291:in
259:in
248:at
177:OBC
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173:CM
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124:m.
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55:(
23:.
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