GENEPAC, PEMFC fuel cell from the PSA Peugeot Citroën (Stellantis) and CEA partnership

The increase in the world's population, the strong growth of emerging countries and rising living standards are leading to a rise in the number of vehicles on the road. The major consequences of this development are increased pressure on the world's oil resources and rising volumes of exhaust gases from internal combustion engines. The foreseeable rise in oil prices, pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with their impact on global warming, will therefore play a driving role in stimulating technological change to make vehicles more fuel-efficient and less polluting.

The fuel cell is one of the most promising ways of replacing internal combustion engines, particularly for automotive applications. Powered by hydrogen, fuel cells emit only water when producing electrical power. Often combined with hybridization batteries, proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems can now be used to produce electric vehicles with functions similar to those of combustion engines, but with significantly higher energy yields.

The development of such a vehicle requires a compact fuel cell technology capable of achieving the required power levels, integrated at the heart of a dedicated system. In the 2000s, the CEA (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives) and PSA Peugeot Citroën designed a fuel cell capable of taking electrical power, energy efficiency and compactness to a new level: the GENEPAC (GENérateur Électrique à Pile A Combustible) fuel cell, the heart of the reaction between fuel (hydrogen) and oxidizer (oxygen from the air) to produce electricity, water and heat. To be directly usable and integrable in a vehicle, a fuel cell system was added to this project: the system resulting from the FiSyPAC (Fiabilité des Systèmes à Pile À Combustible) project supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR).

The methods used at the time to achieve the power, mass and volume targets are described in this article. They provide a benchmark on which to base the many improvements being made to PEMFC cells. A few examples of progress made since then are presented here. The main elements of the design and characterization of the FiSyPAC system are also reviewed. They are placed in perspective with some of the avenues for improvement explored subsequently, and with the performance achieved on the most recent fuel cell vehicles.