James,

While I agree with some of what you said... The reality is that the cost and reliabilty of fuel cells still has a long way to go. As of last week the cost of a fuel cell for a 5,000 lb. truck was $40k. It has a ten year life and requires a $20k maintenance contract for the ten years. I worked n the fast charging business for about 5 years and the hydrogen business is working with (and has been testing in the US since about 2001) the early adaptors to get the bugs out. One of the main problems is that on rider forklifts the initial inrush current that is need by the hydraulics pump is extreamly high and the fuel cells have problem supplying this much power. The fix has been to go to super capacitors or a hybrid fuel cell that adds a battery. The battery suppies the truck with power and the fuel cell constantly charges the battery.

The biggest joke I find with feul cells is the carbon footprint, tree hugger angle. I agree that within buildings their is no question that theing will be cleaner than LPD, Gas, Diesel or even Electric. However the dirty little secret about fuel cells is that yu actually need to make Hydrogen! In order to make hydrogen it take an huge amount of electricity! In the US we typically make electricty from burning, yes buring, coal, trash and natural gas. Thes are emmissions. So do you want emmisions coming from a million forklifts or the same amount or more emmissions coming from powerplants that generate the electricity to make the hydrogen to power the zero emmission forklifts.