There's been a lot of news recently about fuel cells in the material handling industry. I'd like to clear up some misconceptions for the different types of fuel cells available for material handling equipment. I haven't had much exposure to the fuel cells for class 1 equipment, but know that when they are in use, they function well. I've had much more exposure to the fuel cells for class III vehicles from Plug Power and Oorja Protonics. I can say that fuel cells from both companies perform very well, they just go about it differently.

Plug Powers units are hydrogen based and uses highly compressed hydrogen as the fuel source. The unit replaces/eliminates the need for a battery and supplies power for all the vehicle needs. Oorja Protonics units use a liquid alcohol fuel cell at ambient pressure as the fuel source. It's roughly a third the size of the Plug unit and works in conjunction with the existing battery. Per my knowledge, both should fit on most, if not all class III vehicles with battery compartment designed to hold 12-****-13 batteries. However, if the Plug fuel cell unit goes down the vehicle is down; if the Oorja unit goes down, the battery will still be there to power the vehicle. Both take about a minute to refill, Plug with compressed hydrogen and Oorja with liquid alcohol.

Both technologies are new and as with the migration from ICE, it'll take some time to proliferate. I encourage anyone thinking about new class III equipment to look into fuel cell as they are available today.

Oorja has a quick ROI even without subsidies and Plug has lots of government (federal and state) money to help with implementation. I'm not versed in fire and safety codes regarding compressed hydrogen, but I believe with the alcohol fuel, permitting for indoor use is very straight forward.

Hope this clears up some of the confusion and stoke some interest in fuel cells.

Raymond,
It is typical that with new tech few people want to be the first to buy - maybe 5-8% of the prospects will. But the majority will take the "wait & see" approach - especially in the capital equipment business such a lift trucks. I subscribed to a some what of self developed theory -- "End users do not want to buy a lift truck - they are needed to do business & cost a lot of $$ (equipment costs, drivers, maintenance, repair, etc), they buy when they need to (seldom when you want them to) & it is very common for them to convey they want the highest quality machine, that is trouble free, at the lowest possible total value." That is a challenge. That being said, in 1973/74 we had a big time oil shortage - prices sky rocketed, folks had to wait in long lines to get 10 gallons of gasoline, (8 cylinder engine cars were getting 15 mpg on a good day), etc. Everyone said the electric cushion tire fork lift would replace the ICE in the near future - due to the economic benefits - lower fuel costs, longer life, lower maintenance but initial investment was higher. We could prove the ROI on paper & still can today. But the transition to electrics has been slow but steady - but not at the rate of the Northeast graph curve that was projected.
Maybe there is something here for you - be persistent, be patient, look for the opportunities - never give up.

Also, during this period "electric pneumatics up to 10K lift capacity were introduce to the US market - most were brought in from Europe. Success of the electric pneumatic was sorta like the "death of a rag doll" (slow & painful).

I know this is history & things change, but it remains a conservative customer based market - seems like all customers/prospects all lived in Missouri & want you to show them first on paper - then on success story in their industry/application & given a tele # to call. As the fleet manager for a national plywood company in Ohio (a new prospect) of 1600 lift trucks told me - if a sales person tells him something he believes 0% and when they put it in writing he believes it 50% - you gotta' put your money where your mouth is. We did & sure enough two years later new business was written but make certain you sell enough to keep your job, make money to support you & & your family or whatever)

Absolutely, it will. Sad fact is that most if not all buyers will not shell out the coin to turn key start up. What ever happen to words like return on investments?

I am working on converting as well, I just hope EnerSys will not give this a black eye and have some moron sales rep pushing it with no education or skill. Make it, Move it, Sell It right?