Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation

About Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation

Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation (AFCC) was a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, based automotive fuel cell technology company. The company was formed on February 1, 2008 as a spin-off from its predecessor, Ballard Power Systems to allow for further expansion of fuel cell technology. After the split, Ballard continued as a publicly traded company focusing on non-automotive applications (including buses), while AFCC became a privately held company of 150 employees, developing hydrogen fuel cell stacks for automobiles. AFCC's initial ownership split was Daimler (50.1%), Ford Motor Company (30.0%), and Ballard itself (19.9%). Ford Motor Company purchased the portion of AFCC owned by Ballard Power Systems in 2009 for $44.5M in gross proceeds, leaving it with 49.9% ownership, and Daimler AG (at present the Mercedes-Benz Group) as the major stakeholder with 50.1%. An AFCC stack was used in the Mercedes-Benz F-Cell vehicle in 2010. In 2013, AFCC's owners signed a three-way agreement with Nissan Motor Company to develop next-generation fuel cell technology that they hope will lead to the world's first affordable, mass-market fuel cell electric vehicles as early as 2017.