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Posted On: 09/23/2004

Hydrogen to boom as lift-truck fuel?

“Cellex’s power units have logged hundreds of truck days to date from its field trials program, which began in February 2002,” says Tom Hoying, vice president of sales and marketing for Cellex Power.  “The next step in the field trials will demonstrate the safe and efficient fueling of hydrogen at customer locations.”

The customer trials of the hydrogen-powered forklift trucks is expected to last three months and will take place at sites in the USA and Canada.

“These trials will show customers how hydrogen fuel cells can improve truck productivity significantly by removing the downtime and performance loss seen in battery-powered trucks, and reducing the health and safety risks associated with handling lead-acid batteries,” says John Carolin, global director of hydrogen energy for BOC. “Also, hydrogen refueling systems are considerably smaller than a typical battery recharging facility, which frees up additional floor space within the distribution center.”

BOC also is participating in the Compressed Hydrogen Infrastructure Program (CH2IP), a hydrogen fueling demonstration in SurreyBritish Columbia, aimed at developing the infrastructure necessary to support the use of hydrogen fuel in vehicles.