BayWa AG presents SFC’s EFOY fuel cell in a hunting cabin on the agricultural exhibition area of the Munich Octoberfest

  • Reliable, silent, and fully automatic power supply
  • Ideal for hunting, mountain and holiday cabins - always full cabin batteries
  • Distribution by BayWa AG

Brunnthal, September 22, 2008 – This year the agricultural exhibition area of the Munich Octoberfest will see a premiere: The German agricultural retail expert BayWa AG presents a hunting cabin with integrated EFOY fuel cell by SFC Smart Fuel Cell, leading supplier of fuel cell products for mobile and off-grid power applications. Finally, there is an environmentally friendly, lightweight, and silent power solution for hunting cabins that ensures 24/7 power availability in the cabin in any season and weather.

The EFOY fuel cell is directly connected to the cabin battery, continuously monitoring the battery’s charge state. Once this drops under a predefined level due to power consumption of lights, fridge or radio, the EFOY will automatically start operation and recharge the battery. When the battery is full, the fuel cell will just as automatically return into stand-by. The cabin owner doesn’t have to do a thing and can still fully enjoy the comforts of the cabin without limitations. 230 V devices can be operated in the cabin by using an inverter.

The EFOY fuel cell produces power reliably without requiring maintenance or user intervention. Fuel is available at all BayWa AG retail stores in practical 5 and 10 l cartridges. An M10 cartridge with 10 l fuel contains 11.1 kilo watt hours of power. That is enough power to independently operate the cabin’s electrical consumers for up to 14 days. In form of these convenient cartridges cabin owners can store a lot of energy at very low weight at their cabin. The advantage: as long as there are full cartridges, the cabin is fully independent of any external power supply.

The EFOY fuel cell works extremely silently – a decisive advantage over generators which produce a lot of noise and exhausts and disturb the environment. 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. In fair weather the cabin owner thus uses solar power, in bad weather or in winter the EFOY fuel cell reliably ensures full batteries. 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.

“We are excited that we can now offer hunters and cabin owners a 100% reliable power solution for their cabin with the EFOY fuel cell”, says Siegfried Mayer, Head of the Technical Department of BayWa AG. “Up to now a solution like that was just not available – many cabins are situated deep inside forests or very close to mountain walls, places, where the use of solar cells just makes no sense. Generators are simply too loud and will scare away the deer. The EFOY does not generate smell or noise and it is always available. Just what hunters need.”

“We are very proud that BayWa AG, a leading retail group for agricultural supplies, has integrated our EFOY fuel cell into their product portfolio”, says Dr. Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG. “Now owners of hunting, mountain and holiday cabins can enjoy the same full power convenience and comfort of the EFOY fuel cells as thousands of motor home owners all across Europe. We are thrilled that Bay Wa AG offers our EFOY fuel cells in their retail stores.“

The EFOY fuel cell is available in four different models: EFOY 600, EFOY 900, EFOY 1200, and EFOY 1600 – with a charging capacity of 600 to 1,600 watt hours each per day depending on the cabin’s individual power requirements. The EFOY fuel cells and EFOY cartridges are available at all BayWa retail stores.

On the agricultural exhibition area of the Munich Octoberfest visitors can experience a cabin with integrated EFOY fuel cell at BayWa stand M. BayWa offers a cabin pre-equipped with EFOY fuel cell as well as individual EFOY fuel cells for integration into existing cabins.

About SFC AG

SFC 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 alliances 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 9,000 fully commercial products to industrial and private end users for four years, and has created a convenient fuel cartridge supply infrastructure. SFC is DIN ISO 9001:2000 certified.