 A proton exchange membrane fuel cell |
A report making "The Business Case for Fuel Cells 2014" says Plug Power Inc of Latham, New York sold more than 2,400 GenDrive units in North America during this year.
Fuel cells are touted as a motive-power alternative to lead-acid batteries for powering most forklifts and other materials handling equipment.
Notable hydrogen-fueled proton exchange membrane GenDrive sales during 2014 included Plug Power deals with multinational retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc of Bentonville, Arkansas (2,069 units); retail co-operative Central Grocers Inc of Joliet, Illinois (182 units); supermarket co-operative Wakefern Food Corp for the farmers' market in Newark, New Jersey (110 units); retail co-operative Ace Hardware Corp of Oak Brook, Illinois (more than 65 units); and diversified supplier Golden State Foods of Irvine, California (39 units).
Two others are supplying fuel cells for forklift applications. Nuvera Fuel Cells of Billerica, Massachusetts and San Donato, Italy markets proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Oorja Protonics Inc of Fremont, California (doing business as Oorja Fuel Cells) deals with direct methanol fuel cells.
The report was written and compiled by the independent non-profit Breakthrough Technologies Institute (BTI) of Washington with support from the fuel cell technologies office of the US Department of Energy's office of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Washington-based trade group Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association also tracks the technology's development.
Deploying of fuel cells for forklifts "is slowly starting to grow in Europe and there is interest in Japan, too, but those countries do material handling a little differently so they are still figuring out the business case", says Jennifer Gangi, the association's director of communications and outreach. "The warehouses there aren't necessarily 24/7 like here in the US, and a lot are automated."
While fuel cells for forklifts are making market inroads, the demand for fuel cells in stationary applications is far higher, reaching about 30,000 units in 2013, according to a projection from Navigant Research of Boulder, Colorado.
BTI estimates more than 100,000 fuel cells have been installed around the world for primary or backup power and other applications including portable and emergency backup power, heat and electricity for homes and apartments, materials handling, passenger vehicles, buses and consumer electronics.
Those installations exist at businesses and municipal buildings or facilities run by non-profit organisations or institutions and include wastewater treatment plants, government buildings, universities, military bases and hospitals.