Fuel cell company PowerCell Sweden last month announced that it would strengthen its management team to enhance customer focus and further strengthen the company’s product development process, owing to steady growth in Swedish and international markets.

The company’s products are distributed in South Africa by Pretoria-based power and energy sector-focused systems engineering business Powertech System Integrators.

PowerCell Sweden appointed Charlotta Sahlin marketing and communication director, noting that she is “experienced in international marketing and developing strong brands”, having worked for automotive manufacturer Saab Automobile, and is information technology company Pulsen’s marketing and public relations manager.

Sahlin has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and communications from the University of Växjö, in Sweden.

Karl Samuelsson has been appointed director of product development. PowerCell Sweden notes that his extensive experience in product development includes research and development at automotive manufacturer Volvo Cars.

Karl holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Chalmers University, in Gothenburg, Sweden. The university focuses on research and education in technology, natural science, architecture, maritime and other management areas.

Sahlin and Samuelsson became members of PowerCell Sweden's management team on August 15 and will report to company CEO Per Wassén.

“We are a company in an exciting phase and we are very positive about the future with the growing interest in our products and systems in Sweden and internationally. As the company grows, we see a need to further focus on our customers and are now strengthening our management team with professionalism in marketing and product development,” outlines Wassén.

PowerCell Sweden develops and produces environment-friendly power systems for stationary and mobile customer applications.

It has developed a modular system of fuel cell platforms, powered by clean environment-friendly- produced hydrogen where electricity, heat and water are the only emissions.

The fuel cells are also designed to handle the reformed hydrogen from, for example, biogas, natural gas, biodiesel or standard diesel. In the event that hydrogen infrastructure is not available, PowerCell has combined its “leading” fuel cell and reformer technology and developed a fuel cell system called PowerPac, which converts standard diesel, with hydrogen, into electricity. This is done in an energy efficient and environment-friendly way, in which emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particles are completely eliminated and carbon dioxide is greatly reduced, compared with a conventional diesel engine.

PowerCell Sweden, listed on First North at Nasdaq Stockholm, is an industrial spin-off of Swedish trucks, buses, construction equipment, and marine and industrial engines manufacturer Volvo.