Fuel cells

Published 2014-04

Products and services using Fuel cells are generally available around 2016

Verdict

hitTwo blind graders agree (D7, rule D37). The auditor agent confirmed it (D11).

Grader A: hit
Grader B: hit
agrees with A, without seeing its verdict
Audit: confirmed
in the fixed audit sample (D11)
Published: hit

Grader A: hit

Ene-Farm residential fuel-cell CHP units sold about 20,000 units in Japan in 2012; the Toyota Mirai fuel-cell car went on retail sale in Japan in December 2014 and in the US and Europe in 2015.

Test: D37 Horizons: fuel-cell products buyable by ordinary consumers or businesses outside pilots by 2018 (earlier counts).

Toyota Mirai (Wikipedia) (2014-12-15): Fuel-cell car on retail sale in Japan from December 2014, US and Europe 2015.
Distributed generation (Wikipedia) (2012): 20,000 Ene-Farm fuel-cell micro-CHP units sold in Japan in 2012.

Grader B: hit

Bloom Energy servers were sold to businesses from 2008; Toyota Mirai went on sale Dec 2014 in Japan, 2015 in the US; fuel-cell buses operated in commercial fleets.

Test: Fuel-cell products could be bought by businesses or consumers by 2018 (earlier counts).

Bloom Energy Server (2010): Commercial stationary solid-oxide fuel cells sold to businesses.
Toyota Mirai (2014-12): Fuel-cell car on general sale.

All captured fields

id: hz-2014-060
category: Energy technologies
kind: technology
target year: 2016
placed year: 2016
milestones: {"scientifically_viable":2014,"mainstream":2015,"financially_viable":2016}
confidence: high
note: Numbered dot (mainstream point) at 2015.2, between the 2015 and 2016 lines, nearer 2015 (read as 2015). Bar from 2013.8 to 2016.0: scientifically viable ~2014, financially viable ~2016. The bar reaches the inner edge of the grid (~2014), so scientific viability may be at or before the chart start. Sub-area: Storage.