Oorja Fuel Cells

Oorja Fuel Cells (Oorja Protonics Inc) is an energy company that designs, manufactures, and commercializes direct methanol fuel cells for use in the logistics, automotive, distributed generation (micro-grid), and telecommunication industries. Oorja develops direct methanol fuel cells ranging in power from 0.5 to 100 kilowatts.

History
Oorja Fuel Cells was founded in 2004 by Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra in Fremont (California), south of the Warm Springs BART station and east of the rail tracks at Tesla Factory. The company was funded by Sequoia Capital, Dag Ventures, Artis Capital Management, McKenna Ventures Management, and Mingxin China Growth Fund.

Oorja Fuel Cells has previously done work with Toyota Tsusho, Baldor, and US Foods.

Oorja has partnered with Toyota Tsusho with the hope of wide commercial adoption of affordable fuel cells to help solve energy and transportation challenges in Japan. With methanol fuel cells costing less than hydrogen batteries because methanol is easier to transport and handle than hydrogen, their hope is to cut down on energy costs in Japan.
 * Toyota Tsusho
 * Toyota Tsusho


 * R&D Partnerships
 * Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
 * Los Alamos National Laboratory
 * Los Alamos National Laboratory

Oorja's original focus was on material handling and logistics sector but has switched to exploring the global market such as in the telecom, mining, oil, and gas industries. Oorja has sales offices in China and South Africa, and have established distribution agreements in South Africa and Mexico.
 * Global market:
 * Global market:

Products
The company's OorjaPac fuel cell product operates as an on-board battery charger for material handling vehicles. OorjaPac has on-board sensors that keep the vehicle's battery at a constant state of charge, eliminating the need for battery swapping and rapid charging.

The OorjaPac Model 1 provides 5 kW output and the Model 1 could extend the range of electric vehicles like General Motors’ Chevy Volt or Nissan’s Leaf by two to three times.

The OorjaPac Model 3 is similar to the Model 1, but it provides 1.5 kW output.

The OorjaPac Model T is a liquid fuel cell that is tailored to meet the needs of the telecommunication industry.

Oorja Protonics also has the OorjaRig™, a refueling system that stores and delivers methanol to the OorjaPac™ on-board charging system that is designed for indoor use in commercial and industrial environments.

Awards

 * MIT Technology Review: Go-to-Market Product 2010
 * Frost and Sullivan – Product of the Year 2009, 2010
 * Always ON Going Green – Top 100 Green Company of 2008 and 2009
 * Modern Material Handling – Products of the year 2009, 2010