"A collaborative working relationship has quickly developed between the Ballard and Volkswagen teams, permitting rapid progress in support of key program deliverables for fuel cell stack development"

VANCOUVER, CANADA – Work at Ballard is progressing rapidly against a major Engineering Services contract signed on March 6, 2013 with Volkswagen AG to advance the automaker's fuel cell automotive research program. Teams are pursuing parallel goals to support the current fleet of Volkswagen HyMotion demonstration cars, as well as designing and manufacturing next generation fuel cell technology.

"A collaborative working relationship has quickly developed between the Ballard and Volkswagen teams, permitting rapid progress in support of key program deliverables for fuel cell stack development," said Sabina Russell, Director of Product Engineering at Ballard. "In the current program phase, requirements are being defined to guide the development of fuel cells for use in next generation Volkswagen demonstration vehicles."

Ballard engineers are leading critical areas of fuel cell product design – including the membrane electrode assembly (MEA), plate and stack components – along with testing and system integration work. Ballard expects to add additional resources in the coming year, as needed for the program. Teams will be co-located in Canada and Germany to further enhance the partnership.

Over its contract life, the Volkswagen program's revenue run rate is expected to be approximately $4-to-5 million per quarter. The 4-year contract has an estimated value of C$60-to-100 million and includes an option for a 2-year extension.

Engineering Services work provides Ballard with a tremendous opportunity to enable product development in both automotive as well as non-automotive sectors. The later includes the aerospace, military, battery and small stationary sectors.

About Ballard Power Systems
Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLD) (NASDAQ: BLDP) provides clean energy fuel cell products enabling optimized power systems for a range of applications. Products deliver incomparable performance, durability and versatility. To learn more about Ballard, please visit www.ballard.com.