Introduction to speech given to SFU Surrey Campus Engineers Without Borders student club, Feb 2012.

1. Matthew Klippenstein
2012 Feb 26 (for EWB-SFU)

2. 1. about me
2. about fuel cells
3. about Ballard
4. engineering @ Ballard
5. why I’m here

3. P A G E 3
about me
 UBC chemical engineer
(1992 to, uh, 1999)
 12 years at Ballard
 occasional playwright
 avid dogsledder

4. P A G E 4
about fuel cells
“a battery with an external fuel pack”
“an electrochemical analogue to the combustion engine”
chemical, not electrochemical

5. P A G E 5
about fuel cells
Ballard does proton-exchange membrane fuel cells
+ milder conditions (most materials cheaper)
– lower electrical efficiency; needs platinum
1kW 100kW 1MW 10MW10kW
Temperature
60°C600°C
PEMFC
SOFC
MCFC (Fuel Cell Energy)
PAFC (United Technologies)
Applications
200°C1200°C

6. P A G E 6
about Ballard
 Burnaby-based fuel cell maker
 we used to do cars
• late 90’s – Daimler and Ford bought stakes
• late 00’s – automotive half spun out
 now: everything except cars

7. P A G E 7
about Ballard
…a stack for every size and setting…
System
Integrators /
OEMs
Downstream
Customers
Backup Power Supplemental
Power
Material
Handling
Bus Distributed
Generation
1–10 kW 5–25 kW 100 kW MWOutput:

8. P A G E 8
about Ballard
yes, Ballard was once
a tech bubble darling
(more on that in a few slides)
“I’m the king of the world!!”

9. P A G E 9
engineering @ Ballard
Amy:
coating
Mani:
GDL’s
Ayesha:
ink mixing
Matthew:
overhead /
goes to meetings
Matthew:
overhead /
goes to meetings
Sonia:
documentation
Sonia:
documentation
Yeng:
QCR help
Yeng:
QCR help
Joanna:
failure analysis
Joanna:
failure analysis
Ron:
manufacturing
It takes a village (of skill sets):
mech,
materials,
chem,
electrical,
software,
chemistry,
physics,
rheology,
and more…
(yellow indicates engineering fields)

10. P A G E 10
why I’m here
shameless plug: and you should be, too!
New mining companies
usually go through:
- a speculative phase
(stock peaks)
- a development phase
(stock sags)
- a production phase
(stock recovers)

11. P A G E 11
why I’m here
shameless plug: and you should be, too!
The same applies for tech companies.
New mining companies
usually go through:
- a speculative phase
(stock peaks)
- a development phase
(stock sags)
- a production phase
(stock recovers)

12. P A G E 12
why I’m here
shameless plug: and you should be, too!
Ballard had its
speculative phase.
We’re finishing our
development phase.
(It took a long time)
Production is gradually
ramping up. (At last!)

13. P A G E 13
why I’m here
 not many people get to work
at a leading company,
in an industry,
at this inflection point
 the fuel cell sector is big enough
that it won’t disappear – and
small enough that you can still
make your mark
 admittedly, I’m biased –
I’ve been working on this for 12 years 
shameless plug: and you should be, too!