High platinum cost: obstacle or blessing for commercialization of low-temperature fuel cell technologies

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), at the early stage of their commercialization, possess potential for different applications. Analogous to any other new technologies, PEFC technology is also facing several challenges and uncertainties during precommercialization phase. Platinum, used as the catalyst in PEFCs, is considered as one of the key obstacles towards the commercialization as it contributes significantly to the overall cost. In the present work, a life-cycle cost analysis is carried out based on the annual growth in the platinum price and the discount rate based on the local market for different economic zones. It is observed that the high investment in platinum could be beneficial instead of acting as the hurdle if the salvage value of platinum is considered. Based on the platinum cost per kW of the fuel cell, two different scenarios (32 and 3 US$ kW⁻¹) are considered. It is observed that in spite of very high cost of platinum, the net present value of the fuel cell is comparable with the scenario with low investment cost in platinum when the salvage value of platinum is considered. In some situations, the high investment cost in the platinum offers high salvage value leading to a profitable case. Hence, the high cost of platinum might promote the commercialization of the fuel cells if appropriate business model is in place.