Sustainable Forktrucks

October 21, 2008

Have spent a lot of time researching sustainable fork trucks. There has been a lot of talk about Fuel Cells, but have not seen anything that is commercially available. I talked to all the OEMs at NA in Cleveland back in March 2008. The OEMs and Fuel Cell manufacturers were looking for pilot opportunities, but nothing was "off-the-shelf" ready. Basically, all the electronics and controls have to be changed to changed with a fuel cell rather than an electric battery. Also, since fuel cells weigh less than a big electric battery all the balances and moment arms need to be recalculated (or lead plates added to the fuel cell compartment).

Crown is working with Plug Power
Hyster is working with Hydrogenics
Raymond is working with Ballard
http://www.mmh.com/article/CA6514673.html


The economic issue preventing widespread use is providing hydrogen at the site. At less than 50 trucks, it is too expensive to generate on-site and it requires trucking hydrogen in ($$$). At more than 50 trucks (24x7), you can cost-effectively generate Hydrogen on-site. But that is a pretty large investment and may not meet many companies ROI or payback requirements. It is even more prohibitive to try a pilot. Walmart has done this at two DCs (Washington Court House, OH is one location). Fuel Cell today has an overview of the current market. Lift trucks are a subset of the Niche Transport group,
http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/online/survey?survey=2008-07%2F2008-Niche-Transport-Vol1
I do not share their optimism on the growth of the market. Still watching. If anyone has run a pilot, I would be interested in their findings.

Another option is Methane Fuel Cells. Oorja has a product they demo'd at NA. Not sure how far along they are to commercialization. Looks like they only have something for Class 3 lift trucks (walkie-rider trucks) http://www.oorjaprotonics.com/index.php. They have a small methane fuel cell and a battery. The footprint of the unit and using a battery interface should allow for substitution with an existing battery-based type lift truck. Using methane reduces the issues with hydrogen infrastructure, but not sure of the overall efficiency and how frequent is the fueling required.