Potonas, a startup specialising in low-cost PEM hydrogen fuel cell solutions, intends to set up a manufacturing unit near Chennai. The company recently raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from a group of venture funds led by Transition VC.

The company, which is headquartered in Tennessee, US, has a subsidiary in Chennai. It aims to deploy its solutions to provide cost-efficient backup power applications in the North American markets and to power fuel cell engines for 3-wheeler transportation and 4-wheeler delivery applications in India and other Asian markets.

With this fresh infusion of capital, Protonas is set to establish initial manufacturing operations in Chennai and build prototype systems. The startup has not disclosed the investment in the plant’s establishment.

Hydrogen fuel cells convert chemical energy from hydrogen to electricity with pure water and useful heat as by-products.

The startup was founded by David DeVries, a fuel cell industry veteran since 1996. Having guided the early-stage development of the world’s first commercially successful cathode air-cooled fuel cells, sold by ReliOn and Altergy Systems in the United States, DeVries has held executive roles across various geographies, including China, California, and Singapore.

Speaking to businessline, DeVries said that he was confident that by the time the company began manufacturing, a green hydrogen ecosystem would have developed in India. “We think hydrogen fuel cells, sometimes even in combination with batteries are a great solution to help out with moving away from high pollution vehicles in the cities. So this is this is a long-term thing. It will take quite a while to get implemented,” he said.

Asked if Protonas wasn’t a little ahead of its time, DeVries said, “These things take time. When we want to do is not wait for the hydrogen to be ready and we want to do fuel cells to work on the development in India and the cost structures, all the manufacturing in India now, so that when the time comes when the hydrogen is ready, we’re also ready with the solution on the consumption side.”

DeVries believed “the hybrid solution is actually the best combination.” Asked if hybrid vehicles wouldn’t cost more, he said that when there is a hybrid “you don’t need the battery to be large, heavy and expensive.” The battery could be used for acceleration, and the fuel cell could be used for range. “They really work well together, they are not mutually exclusive,” he said.

Transition VC is India’s first Energy Transition-focused VC fund, which was launched by investors Raiyaan Shingati and Mohammed Shoeb Ali.Commenting on the investment, Raiyaan Shingati, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Transition VC, said in a press release that “Hydrogen fuel cells have been a reality for a while, but what we are really excited about is making cost efficient hydrogen fuel cells a reality for multiple sectors including mobility, energy storage & industrial applications by investing in Protonas.”

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