Air Liquide will provide retailer IKEA with a hydrogen filling station to supply part of its logistics platform in Saint Quentin-Fallavier, near Lyon in France.

The hydrogen filling station will supply around 20 forklifts powered by hydrogen fuel cells produced by HyPulsion, which is a joint venture between Air Liquide subsidiary Axane and Plug Power.

With a surface area of 100,000 sqm (1,076,391 soft), IKEA's distribution centre in Saint Quentin-Fallavier is a key warehouse for the upstream logistics of IKEA's stores in Southern Europe, organising the receipt and storage of products delivered from all over the world.

Gert Bruggers, general manager for distribution with IKEA France, says: "This project is in line with other innovative energy projects that our group is conducting. Moreover, this allows us to increase our operational efficiency. It contributes to the evolution of the regulatory environment, which will allow an increase in hydrogen energy applications in France."

François Darchis, senior vice president of Air Liquide, says after winning contracts in North America, the group is proud to establish its first filling station on a logistic platform for IKEA in France. "This project, which is a first in Europe, proves the competitiveness and technical maturity of this solution for electric forklifts.
 And thanks to the co-operation between public and private partners, it is the opportunity to drive change in the regulations to allow the development of hydrogen energy in France."

The project is the result of work carried out by the partners of the Horizon Hydrogène Energie program, funded by French public organisation OSEO that supports growing companies.

According to Air Liquide, the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier for logistic platforms has been developing in the US and Canada, with over 3,000 forklifts currently running on hydrogen. The conversion of just 10% of the worldwide fleet of forklift trucks would represent a potential hydrogen market of EUR7 billion (USD9.153 billion).