Press release

Brunnthal/Munich, Germany, December 8, 2009 – A boat equipped with the most powerful EFOY 2200 fuel cell model wins 2nd place of this year’s solo transatlantic yacht race Transat 6,50. The race, in which 85 sailboats up to a length of 6.5 m participated, crossed the Atlantic ocean over a distance of 4,200 nm (7,800 km) in two legs: from Charente Maritime, France, to Madeira, Portugal, and then on from Madeira to Salvador de Bahia, Brasil. Runner-up at the race was Charlie Dalin on his boat Pogo 2. He completed the second leg of the race as the first par-ticipant with a time of 20 days, 6 hours, 36 minutes. His cumulative time which led to 2nd place overall is 27 days, 7 hours, 28 minutes and 10 seconds. Over the complete time of the race the EFOY 2200 fuel cell provided reliable, no-maintenance power to the electrical and electronic devices on board of Pogo 2, keeping Charlie’s hands free for the task of winning second place at the race. “The EFOY 2200 fuel cell worked perfectly and always under load from the day of installation until today,” said Charlie Dalin. “While other participants of the race lost valuable time due to power failure and their electronics not working I always had trouble free power for my GPS and other devices. I consider this a decisive competitive advantage that definitely helped me being winner of the 2nd place at this important race.” In the 2009 Transat 6,50 around 30 further participants have been using other fuel cells manufactured by SFC Energy.

EFOY fuel cells are produced by SFC Energy AG, leading supplier of fuel cell products for mobile and off-grid power applications. The fuel cell series, consisting of five models with a charging capacity of 600 to 2,200 watt hours each per day, depending on the boat’s individual power requirements, is an environmentally friendly, lightweight, and silent power solution for boats and yachts that ensures 24/7 on board power availability in any season and weather.

“We are excited that a yacht equipped with our EFOY 2200 fuel cell is among the winners of this important race,” says Dr. Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Energy AG. “The demanding circumstances in which our EFOY 2200 has performed impeccably prove that there finally is a reliable power solution for sailboats. EFOY is a silent, lightweight, emission-free alternative to wind and water generators which often are not reliable and efficient enough, to solar panels which are often in the way and may generate too little power even in sunlight when the sail’s shadow is on them. And to generators which are just too loud, heavy and big for smaller yachts“.

The EFOY fuel cell is directly connected to the board battery and can be installed basically at any convenient place on board with exception of the engine compartment. In operation the fuel cell continuously monitors the battery’s state of charge. Once this drops below a predefined level due to power consumption of GPS, lights, navigation, fridge or radio, the EFOY automatically starts operation and recharges the battery. When the battery is full, the fuel cell just as automatically returns into stand-by. The boat owner doesn’t have to do a thing and can still fully enjoy the comforts of the boat without limitations. 230 V devices can be oper-ated by using an inverter.

Fuel for the EFOY is available at over 1,400 sales points across Europe in convenient 5 and 10 liter cartridges. An EFOY M10 cartridge with 10 liter fuel contains 11.1 kilo watt hours of power. That is enough power to independently operate the boat’s electrical consumers for up to 14 days. The convenient cartridges enable boat owners to take along a lot of energy at very low weight on their boat. As long as there are full cartridges, the boat is fully independent of any external power supply. The EFOY fuel cell will also operate in hybrid mode with a solar cell. In this combination it only switches on when the solar cell does not produce enough power. By-products of power generation in the EFOY fuel cell are just water steam and carbon dioxide in amounts equivalent to the breath of a child.

Visitors of Salon Nautique de Paris, France, can experience the EFOY fuel cell live in operation at the booth of Navimo, hall 2.1, B 81, December 5 to 13, 2009.

Visit www.sfc.com and www.efoy.com for more information.

About SFC Energy AG
SFC Energy AG (www.sfc.com) is market leader in fuel cell technologies for mobile and off-grid power applications serving the leisure, industrial and defense markets.  As one of Germany’s technology pioneers, SFC has won numerous innovation awards.  SFC has alli-ances with leading companies in a wide range of industries.  Unlike most other fuel cell manufacturers, who are in the research and development phase or run subsidized demonstration projects, SFC has shipped more than 15,000 fully commercial products to industrial and private end users for more than five years, and has created a convenient fuel cartridge supply infrastructure. SFC is DIN ISO 9001:2008 certified. SFC is based in Brunnthal, Germany, and has a sales and technical service office in the U.S.