SFC wins German industry award „Industriepreis 2008”

  • German small and medium size business organization 'Initiative Mittelstand' has se-lected the most innovative industry solutions of the year

  • EFOY fuel cell has won in the category 'energy'

Brunnthal, April 24, 2008 - SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG, a leading supplier of fuel cell products for mobile and off-grid power applications, has been awarded the 'Industriepreis 2008' prize of the Ger-man small and medium size business organization 'Initiative Mittelstand' The EFOY fuel cell was selected as the most interesting and most innovative solution of 2008 in the category'energy'. 'Initiative Mittelstand' honours industry products and solutions that feature an especially high user benefit and very high functionality.

SFC convinced the jury with a mobile fuel cell solution used by the Munich North motorway maintenance agency. In this application the EFOY fuel cell reliably and continuously supplies traffic guidance systems on motorways with power. The use of the fuel cell enables major cost savings in the application of hazard warning trailers with temporary LED-traffic signs. On the trailers the fuel cells continuously recharge the batteries. Before integration of fuel cells the maximum operating time per trailer was eight hours, now the trailers will run for up to ten days without interruption and without requiring user intervention. 'We have now been using the EFOY fuel cells for more than one and a half years', says Peter Scheidler, head of the technical department at the Munich North motorway maintenance agency. 'Before, we had to pull the trailers into the depot for a battery recharge on the grid every day, including the weekends. Now they run continuously for many days, which for us results in an enormous reduction of time, effort, and costs. We really love the fuel cell solution! '

The annual industry award marks the third time that 'Initiative Mittelstand' 2008 has set this innovation competition, which focuses on industry applications. 600 companies competed in 21 categories for marketing and PR services prizes in a total value of more than 75,000 EUR.