Industry Fuel cells Number of employees 40 Founder Sanjiv Malhotra | Area served Worldwide Website oorjafuelcells.com Founded 2004 | |
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Headquarters Fremont, California, U.S. Key people Sanjiv Malhotra
(CEO)
Shoibal Banerjee
(CTO)
Jim Boetcher
(Chairman) | ||
Oorja fuel cells
Oorja Fuel Cells (Oorja Protonics Inc) is an energy company that designs manufactures and commercializes direct methanol fuel cells for application in the logistics, automotive, distributed generation (micro-grid), and telecommunication industries. Oorja designs, develops and commercializes direct methanol fuel cells ranging in power from 0.5 to 100 kilowatts that have a wide range of applications across several industries such as: telecommunications, vehicles and transportation, distributed energy, and microgrid. Oorja is considered one of the four major players in the North American Fuel Cell Market.
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History
Oorja Fuel Cells was founded in 2004 by Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra in Fremont, California. Oorja has been advocate of methanol economy. The company was funded by Sequoia Capital, Dag Ventures, Artis Capital Management, McKenna Ventures Management, and Mingxin China Growth Fund.
Oorja Fuel Cells is working with market leaders around the world such as Toyota Tsusho, Baldor, and US Foods.
Oorja has partnered with Toyota Tsusho in pursuit of wide commercial adoption of affordable fuel cells to help solve energy and transportation challenges in Japan. As methanol fuel cells cost less than hydrogen batteries because methanol is easier to transport and handle than hydrogen, this will hope to cut down on energy costs in Toyota's home nation of Japan.
Oorja started focusing mainly in material handling and logistics sector but is now moving to a more global market such as in the telecom, mining and oil and gas industries. Oorja has sales offices in China and South Africa, and have established distribution agreements in South Africa and Mexico.
Products
The company’s OorjaPac fuel cell product operates as an on-board battery charger for material handling vehicles. OorjaPac features 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 5kW output, as much as 50 times more power to on-board batteries than other fuel cells, 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 1.5kW output.
The OorjaPac Model T is a liquid fuel cell that is tailored to meet the needs of the telecommunication industry.
Oorja Protonics also offers 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.