Background

Fuel cells offer number of benefits for the materials handling industry. The run time of traditional battery packs is limited by the battery's storage capacity and the recharging process are labour, time and resource intensive, and gas/diesel solutions have maintenance and environmental issues. H2 Logic provides hydrogen fuel cell motive power solutions replacing battery or gas/diesel solutions in materials handling vehicles and is looking for end user demonstration sites and partners using Class 3 forklift trucks in 3 shift operation.



Partnerships

In 2008 two forklifts and one lifter using fuel cell systems from H2 Logic will commence pilot testing in the Danish hydrogen highway network Hydrogen Link together with hydrogen refuelling solutions from H2 Logic.

H2 Logic plan to further expand the portfolio of materials handling vehicles using our hydrogen fuel cell motive powers solutions as well as commencing on further demonstration and deployment activities. Our technology can be "hot-swapped" with existing battery packs and we are therefore looking for end users who are interested in converting their existing Class 3 forklift trucks in 3 shift operation for projects in late 2008. We are looking for sites in the following areas:

-UK
-Germany
-Scandinavia

Applications

-Ports
-Airports
-Warehouses
-Distribution centres
-Supermarkets

Advantages of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Forklift/Materials Handling Vehicles

Environmental
-Only emits water!
-No NOx or SOx!
-No Particulate emissions!
-Hydrogen can be supplied from renewable sources and generated onsite.
-Significant carbon footprint savings
-Very quiet operation (significant when compared with diesel engines)
-No need to for disposal of hazardous waste battery materials
Performance
-Runtime is dictated by available fuel supply
-Refuelling - 2 minutes to refuel compared to 5-10 minutes to change batteries
-No degradation of power over time
Efficiency
-Fuel cells are more efficient (than diesel engines) and make fuels last longer
-Efficiency of the fuel cell is constant even at partial loads
Footprint
-Storage space for spare battery packs and recharging equipment is no longer required - the equivalent fuelling infrastructure requires considerably less space
-There can be multiple refuelling points around around the facilities, removing the need to return to a single point
Operation
-Operators can be fully trained within hours
-Plug and play solution is interchangeable with current battery packs
-Increased productivity via longer runtimes and quick refuelling
-Reduced maintenance when compared to batteries

Please respond to this artcile if you are interested in exploring fuel cell forklift projects.