Vancouver company leads clean energy movement for a better future

Mark Cannon, Hydrogen in Motion CTO, Quak Foo Lee, chemical engineer, Angus Hui, co-op student, Dr. Pei Pei, research associate, Grace Quan, CEO, Sahida Kureshi PhD Candidate, and Dr. Andrey Tokerav, theoretical physicist.

Grace Quan’s goal is to deliver hydrogen around the world to help the environment and address climate change.

Quan is the CEO of Vancouver-based Hydrogen in Motion, a clean-tech company leading the way in hydrogen storage.

“Clean tech, in one word, means innovation,” Quan says. “We didn’t leave the Stone Age because we ran out of stones. We changed because of technology.”

The number one problem with hydrogen is how to store it, which is why Quan founded Hydrogen in Motion. She set out to find a way to get hydrogen to people around the world.

Quan’s company has figured out how to do this. By using a material that soaks up hydrogen like a sponge, more of it can be stored at a lower pressure and at lower cost.

In the future, clean energy, including hydrogen, should become the method of choice to power anything that requires gas or electricity. For example, vehicles, snow blowers and drones could be powered by hydrogen in the future. Hydrogen is an infinite source of clean energy that can lessen the environmental impact from other sources of energy.

Thanks to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Quan says she can explore new markets in the Asia-Pacific region for hydrogen export.

“The CPTPP gives us incentive to enter new markets that we may have put on the back burner,” Quan says. “It makes us aware of activities in other countries that we may not have been aware of before.”

Japan is a new market that Quan’s company will explore as a result of the CPTPP. There’s a lot of opportunity there, with Tokyo hosting the 2020 Olympics, which are expected to be powered by hydrogen.

Quan says Global Affairs Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service is also instrumental in expanding trade networks. Trade commissioners create connections to help companies like Hydrogen in Motion gain access to other countries.

Quan recently returned from a trade mission to India, where local trade commissioners helped her set up a meeting with a major auto maker.

“We really appreciate the invaluable work that trade commissioners do to support Canadian companies,” Quan says. “We get the inside knowledge and meetings that are very hard to get on our own.”