AFC applications

Alkaline fuel cells have been in use in manned space travel which would not have been possible without the fuel cell. In the Apollo and in the Apollo-Soyuz program as well as in the Skylab and in space shuttles alkaline fuel cells were and are in use.

At the moment AFCs are in the development stage for the use as vehicle drives. But the fact that AFCs can not be fed directly with air (but only with pure oxygen) is a big disadvantage.

CO2 has to be removed from the air in the beginning to avoid a 'poisoning' of the electrolyte. This requires additional devices in the fuel cell system.

Alkaline fuel cells are especially suitable for niche vehicles because they can be produced quite cheaply even in small numbers. An example for such an application are the famous London taxis.

Fuel cell from the Apollo program

A taxi powered by an AFC

First fuel cell boat equipped with an AFC