Doosan Bobcat this week announced the signing of a MoU with the government of Korea’s “hydrogen city” Gwangyang City to supply more hydrogen-powered forklifts, and says it is working to establish and operate dedicated hydrogen refuelling stations for forklifts in the area (see this week’s story).

This comes as a new report identifies forklifts as leading the way when it comes to the shift from diesel power to electrification, despite the electrification of off-highway powertrains being “hampered” by technical challenges and high costs (another of this week’s stories to read!).

Both electric and hydrogen power have the benefit of producing zero emissions, helping companies realise their net zero ambitions and proving less harmful than fossil fuel to the environment.

However, all this will not achieve the desired outcomes if the entire supply chain is not striving for the same goal and the sources for these zero-emission batteries are not, themselves, environmentally-friendly. Perhaps this is where the real challenge lies - behind the scenes. The question is: are companies looking?