While working on a fuel cell power source in 1842, which he called a ‘gas battery’, William Grove,’the father of the fuel cell’, noted in a letter that he and a friend had built a battery-powered boat capable of 3 mph. Although what was probably the first electric boat ever made was not powered by fuel cells, it was a harbinger of a rapidly developing association between fuel cells and boats/ships.

First published in Cleantech magazine, January/February 2008. Copyright Cleantech Investor 2008