Cost analysis for durable proton exchange membrane in PEM fuel cells

Proton exchange membranes (PEMs) are a major determinant of fuel cell lifetime. For automotive applications, standards call for high levels of operation stability, reportedly 5,500 hours for cars and over 20,000 hours for buses. In addition to durability, membranes should also meet a certain price target for fuel cells to be competitive with incumbent gasoline and diesel internal combustion engines. A techno-economic analysis has been performed to explore different membrane designs which are proposed to enhance durability. For this reason, a cost analysis platform has been created. The technical-economic cost model (TCM) developed depicts how the production cost per unit varies depending on the different fabrication methods, production rate limitations, material selection, labor distribution, energy consumption, financial parameters and the target production volume. This platform enables the efficient exploration of each potential design solution and identification of the key factors for each design. By using such an approach in the design, research time and resources can be saved by prioritizing R&D and production scale-up options at an early stage. Using our cost analysis platform, we explored the effect of material cost on the overall production cost for PEMs based on NAFION^®; the effect of additive on the overall cost is minor especially when the production process is unchanged. Comparing the results to existing market standards, we found that current industry standard assumptions are intended for conservative investment.