Rolls Royce going commercial with fuel cell?

If you’re the kind of person that likes the very finest things in life, maybe you enjoy sniff caviar from a spoon made of diamonds and unicorn’s horn, then you might fancy treating yourself to the Rolls Royce of fuel cells. Literally.

For the company, better known for its Spirit of Ecstasy and transporting the Thunderbirds around, is thinking about taking its fuel cell business commercial, says the The Independent.

Field tests of the solid-oxide fuel cell are due to start at Holywell Park, the business estate where Rolls-Royce Energy produces the ceramic components used in the cells.[…]

If testing goes according to plan, Rolls-Royce believes the generators will be ready for commercial sale in 2010. Its scientists believe the fuel cell is one of the lowest-cost and most efficient of all the latest technologies and is being designed for stationary power generation for hospitals, universities and small factories. But the generators can be adap-ted for bigger-scale transport, military and marine applications.

And like the cars themselves, it’s all reassuringly expensive – analysts reckon the technology is worth £200 million.