On a global scale, the market for fuel cells can be divided into three areas of application, mobile, stationary and portable.
The greatest market potential can be assigned, without restriction, to mobile applications in motor vehicles. Nevertheless, it is in this area that the greatest technological, economic and logistic obstables are to be overcome. Now that the car industry has agreed on hydrogen as a future energy source, particulary the problem of an area-wide hydrogen infrastructure has to be solved in conjunction with a cost reduction for fuel cell systems.
Apart from fleets of company vehicles, the serial production of vehicles fitted with fuel cells cannot be expected before 2020. The market for fleets of vehicles, which is easier to develop as far as hydrogen logistic structure is concerned, will ensure, as early as 2013, an attractive market volume of 2 thousand million USD soley for membrane electrode assemblies for cars.