Carrefour's fuel cell STILL fleet

French retailer Carrefour has deployed 137 Plug Power GenDrive-powered STILL electric forklifts at its supply chain distribution centre in Vendin-le-Vieil, France.

The Vendin-le-Vieil facility, a critical arm within Carrefour's logistics networks in France, receives, stores and distributes merchandise destined for stores in the region.

Carrefour is the second-largest retailer in the world, serving 13 million customers internationally every day.

Through the use of Plug Power's GenDrive fuel cell product, Carrefour can expect increases in efficiency, reliability and improved operator-ergonomics within its STILL fleet.

This week's grand opening provided the opportunity for Carrefour to share insights on its vision of the future of the logistics market in France and around the world. This includes its leadership position in adopting clean and competitive solutions for large electric vehicle fleets.

"This is the second major deployment of Plug Power's GenDrive units by Carrefour," says Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power. "With each and every truck that is turned over to hydrogen and fuel cell power, Carrefour is taking another step to engrain its philosophy to adopt clean energy in its daily operations into its employees and stakeholders. Plug Power congratulates Carrefour on its most recent business expansion."

At the grand opening, Plug Power was represented by the vice president of global sales and GM of Plug Power Europe, Jose Luis Crespo. Additionally, representatives from STILL, Air Liquide and funding partner HyLIFT-EUROPE were in attendance.

The project received funding from the European Union's 7th Framework program (FP7/2007-2013) for the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking Technology Initiative under Grant Agreement Number 303451.