Plug Power Inc has named major brand name firms Mercedes-Benz, Lowe's, Stihl and Ikea as signing up to use its GenDrive fuel cell systems to power forklifts in manufacturing and warehouse facilities.

"Interest for the GenDrive products in the automotive industry is growing," Plug Power says. Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc, for example, ordered GenDrive units for its Tuscaloosa County plant in Vance, Alabama. Mercedes-Benz is a unit of Daimler AG.

Plug Power's largest retail customer to date, Lowe's Companies Inc, signed a five-year contract to set product pricing and service terms for GenDrive products purchased for a new home improvement distribution centre in Rome, Georgia. Plug Power expects to ship units in the first quarter of 2013 to correspond with the facility's grand opening.

Stihl Inc ordered GenDrive fuel cells to be used in Norfolk, Virginia. Plug Power says the Stihl order "is important as the company uses its North American deployment as a benchmark for future European facility conversions". Stihl is a unit of Andreas Stihl AG & Co.

International home products company IKEA International Group contracted with joint venture HyPulsion to convert its operations in southern France to GenDrive products in 2013. HyPulsion is a venture between Plug Power, Air Liquide SA subsidiary Axane and Air Liquide hydrogen energy.

"Our existing materials handling customers are proving the value GenDrive brings to their business," says Andy Marsh, chief executive officer. "Plug Power is leveraging continual market success with Fortune 500 companies to promote GenDrive to new customers."

New customers recently receiving initial shipments or deployments include Pineville, Louisiana and Oxnard, California facilities of Procter & Gamble and a Compton, California site of Kroger Co. More than 2,200 GenDrive units are at customer sites, and Plug Power projects the deployment total will exceed 4,000 by the end of 2012.

For the corresponding first quarters ended 31 March, Plug Power reports sales, research and technology and licensed technology revenue of USD7.75 million in 2012 versus USD5.94 million for the 2011 period. In its 15 May financial report, the publicly traded Latham-based firm says it lost USD6.58 million in the 2012 first quarter versus USD7.24 million in the year-earlier quarter.