Dive Brief:
- The fuel cell firm Intelligent Energy has become the most highly-valued public fuel cell company in the world, at $811 million.
- The firm went public last week on the London Stock Exchange, raising $94.1 million at IPO.
- The company produces proton exchange membrane technology fuel cells, which are generally used in transport and consumer products. The money raised will go to developing these and more energy storage and management solutions for distributed and stationary resources.
- The company has not made a profit since 2012, as last year's revenue of $35.6 million was out-weighed by losses of $36 million.
Dive Insight:
Fuel cells are currently being touted by Toyota as a clean alternative to electric-powered vehicles, although Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk says this is misguided, branding fuel cells "mind-bogglingly stupid."
When compared to the Tesla Model S, said Musk, fuel cells are "far worse in volume and mass terms, and far, far worse in cost. And I haven’t even talked about hydrogen being so hard to handle."
Musk does believe hydrogen will be the "fuel of the future," but said that time is not yet upon us.
"Manufacturers do it [FCEVs] because they're under pressure to show they're doing something 'constructive' about sustainability. They feel it's better to be working on a solution a generation away rather than something just around the corner."