A 60-cell 10kW class PEM fuel cell stack has been developed and tested. By using the catalyst-coated membrane (CCM) method, a power density of 0.36W/cm(2) was reached for a single cell with a 600cm(2) active area. The total Pt loading was 0.6 mg/cm(2) for the anode and cathode catalyst layers. Cyclic voltammogram (CV) tests revealed that the CCM method had a higher Pt utilization when compared to the hydrophobic method. Furthermore, a maximum power of 10.9kW was reached at an air utilization of 30%. A 400-h performance test showed a +/- 2 V fluctuation of the stack voltages. Coupling the 10kW class stack with an external humidifier gave a relatively poor result of 6kW. (c) 2006 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.