IFC has noted that any fuel cell which is aimed to become fully commercial in the next few years must be compatible with present day fuel infrastructure. In this paper (SAE 2001-01-450, Progress in the Development of PEM Fuel Cell Engines For Transportation by Alfred P. Meyer, Michael E. Gorman, David M. Flanagan and David R. Boudreau) IFC demonstrated the operation of a fuel reformer on Californian Reformulated Phase II gasoline.
IFC also gave information on the successful testing of one of its ambient pressure 50 kW PEMFC systems for primary traction of a vehicle by Ford and of a 5 kW auxiliary power unit PEMFC by BMW, as the sole electrical source of power in a Series 7 car. The low pressure operation of both allows power consumption for air supply and other auxiliary equipment to be below five per cent of gross power.
The more advanced IFC Series 300 stack showed more than 1.5 kW per litre as a stack. Hyundai and the European bus manufacturer Irisbus have both constructed vehicles for use in testing this particular stack. IFC currently plans to integrate the gasoline reformer and 75 kW stack for future testing.