Fuel cells: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Cost depends on platinum catalyst, membranes, graphite or steel plates and factory scale, while running cost depends on the price of hydrogen or other fuel. Demand rests on subsidies and on competition with batteries and engines.
No public price Fuel cells has no public monthly price series: Small, fast-changing market; prices quoted per project, no public index.What its price moves with
Hydrogen fuel cells use platinum to speed the reactions at each electrode, so platinum prices feed directly into stack cost. Makers have cut platinum loadings sharply, which reduces this exposure. Fuel cells have no price series, so no statistics are shown.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Most fuel cells run on hydrogen, so its delivered price sets running costs and decides whether fuel-cell trucks and power units can compete. Cheap hydrogen at scale is the main condition for wider use.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.The plates that separate cells and carry current are often made of graphite composites, or coated steel in cars. Graphite costs therefore matter for stationary and heavy-duty stacks, though plates are a smaller cost than catalyst and membranes.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Methanol fuel cells, and reformers that make hydrogen from methanol on site, are used for backup power and some boats. For these, the methanol price sets fuel cost, which links fuel cells to a widely traded chemical.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Battery electric vehicles compete directly with fuel-cell vehicles. Rapid falls in battery costs have won most of the car market, leaving fuel cells to focus on heavy, long-range and backup uses where refuelling speed matters more.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Electrolysers run the fuel-cell reaction in reverse to make hydrogen, and some use similar membranes and catalysts. Shared supply chains mean scale in one can cut costs for the other, and cheaper green hydrogen improves fuel-cell economics.
No public price for electrolysers, so the link is explained in words only.How to read these numbers
Correlation of monthly changes (the number in the coloured pill) compares how much each price moved, month by month, since 2006 or the first month both series exist. It runs from −1 to +1: near +1 the two usually rise and fall in the same months, near 0 there is no link, and a negative number means they tend to move in opposite directions. Above 0.7 is strong, 0.4 to 0.7 moderate, 0.2 to 0.4 weak.
12-month changes compare year-on-year moves, which shows whether two prices share the same cycles even when the month-to-month noise differs.
Price function is a straight-line fit of the two prices on logarithmic scales: price ≈ k × (partner price)β. β is how much this price moves, in per cent, for a 1% move in the partner over the whole period, and R² is the share of the variation the fit explains. Two prices that both drift up with inflation can fit well without any real link, so read it together with the monthly correlation.
Lead or lag checks whether the monthly correlation is clearly higher when one price is shifted by 1 to 6 months.
Correlation is not cause. The reasons on each card explain the economic link; the numbers show how strongly it has shown up in prices. Proxy series are US producer price indexes or related prices and can blur the real link.
Data: World Bank Commodity Price Data (Pink Sheet), October 2026; US Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price indexes, IMF primary commodity prices and US EIA prices via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, retrieved November 2026. Calculations by this site.